UNDERTHE  OLD  FLAG 


II 


JAMES  HARRISON  WILSON 


N£^ 


GIFT   OF 
MARY  JVCKSCH 


UNDER  THE  OLD  FLAG 

VOLUME  I 


M<y*r4Lp**/W  </fr 


UNDER 
THE   OLD   FLAG 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  MILITARY  OPERATIONS  IN 

THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION,  THE  SPANISH  WAR 

THE  BOXER  REBELLION,  ETC. 


BY 

JAMES  HARRISON  WILSON 

BREVET  MAJOR-GENERAL  U.  S.  A.;  LATE  MAJOR-GENERAL  U.  S.  V. 

ENGINEER  AND  INSPECTOR-GENERAL  ON  GRANT'S  STAFF 

COMMANDER  THIRD  CAVALRY  DIVISION,  ARMY  OF  THE  POTOMAC 

COMMANDER  CAVALRY  CORPS  M.  D.  M.,  ETC. 


VOLUME  I 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

D.   APPLETON    AND    COMPANY 

MCMXII 


0^ 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
D.  APPLETON  AND   COMPANY 


Published'  October,  igi2 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


PREFACE 
MILITARY   SERVICES 


June,  1855, 

to 
June,  1860 

July,  1860 

to 
July,  1861 

September 

to 
October,  1861 

October,  1861 

to 
July,  1862 


September 

to 
October,  1862 

November,  1862 

to 
January,  1863 


Cadet,  United  States  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point,  five-year  course. 


Brevet  Second  Lieutenant  U.  S.  Topo- 
graphical Engineers,  Fort  Vancouver, 
Washington   Territory. 


Recruiting  Engineer  Soldiers,  Boston. 


Chief  Topographical  Engineer  on  the 
Staff  of  General  T.  W.  Sherman,  in 
the  Port  Royal  Expedition  ;  Siege  and 

s    Capture  of  Fort  Pulaski. 

Volunteer  Aid-de-camp  and  Assistant 
Engineer,  on  the  Staff  of  General  Mc- 
Clellan  in  the  Antietam  Campaign. 

First  Lieutenant  Topographical  Engi- 
neers; Captain  of  Engineers;  Chief 
Topographical  Engineer  and  Assistant 
Chief  Engineer  in  West  Tennessee  and 
Northern  Mississippi,  on  the  Staff  of 
General  Grant. 


257721 


UNDER    THE     OLD    FLAG 

January,  1863        Lieutenant   Colonel   U.    S.   Volunteers; 

to  Assistant  Inspector  General,  Depart- 

October,  1863  ment  and  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  in 

the  Vicksburg  Campaign,  on  the  Staff 

of  General  Grant. 


November,  1863 

to 
February,  1864 


Brigadier  General  U.  S.  Volunteers ;  As- 
sistant Inspector  General  Military 
Division  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the 
Chattanooga  Campaign,  on  the  Staff 
of  General  Grant. 


February 

to 
May,  1864 


Chief  of  Cavalry  Bureau,  War  Depart- 
ment. 


May  Brigadier  General  U.  S.  Volunteers,  in 

to  command  of  the  Third  Cavalry  Divi- 

August,  1864  sion  Sheridan's  Corps,  Virginia  Cam- 

paigns. 


August 
to 
September,  1864 


Commanding   Third   Cavalry    Division, 
Sheridan's  Valley  Campaign. 


October,  1864  Brigadier  General  and  Brevet  Major 
to  General  U.  S.  Volunteers;  organized 

July,  1865  and   commanded   the   Cavalry    Corps 

Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi, 
in  the  Campaign  against  Hood  in 
Middle  Tennessee,  and  in  the  last 
Campaign  of  the  War  through  Ala- 
bama and  Georgia.  Capture  of  Selma, 
Montgomery,  Columbus,  West  Point 
and  Macon.  Pursuit  and  capture  of 
Jefferson  Davis ;  End  of  War. 


vi 


PREFACE 


April 

to 
July,  1866 


Captain   of  Engineers   on  Defenses  of 
Delaware  River  and  Bay. 


July,  1866  Lieutenant  Colonel  35th  U.  S.  Infantry, 

to  on  Engineer  duty  in  connection  with 

December,  1870  the  Improvement   of  the   Mississippi 

River  and  other  western  water-ways. 


December,  1870 


May,  1898 

to 
April,  1899 


Honorably  Discharged  on  the  reduction 
of  the  Army,  at  his  own  request,  De- 
cember 31,  1870. 

Major  General  U.  S.  Volunteers,  in  the 
War  with  Spain.  Assigned  to  com- 
mand the  6th  Army  Corps,  never  or- 
ganized ;  Volunteered  and  commanded 
the  First  Division  First  Army  Corps 
in  the  expedition  to  Porto  Rico ;  First 
Governor  of  the  District  of  Ponce. 


October,  1898        Commanded  First  Army  Corps  in  Ken- 
to  tucky  and  Georgia;  also  the  Depart- 

January,  1899  ment  of  Matanzas  and  Santa  Clara, 

in  the  first  occupation  of  Cuba. 

April,  1899  At  personal  request  of  Secretary  of  War. 

to  after  the  reduction  of  the  Army  and 

July,  1900  the    reestablishment    of    Peace    with 

Spain,  accepted  the  reduced  rank  of 
Brigadier  General  U.  S.  Volunteers 
and  remained  in  command  of  Depart- 
ment of  Matanzas  and  Santa  Clara. 


July  Volunteered  for  service  against  Boxer 

to  Rebellion  in  China.    Reported  to  Ma- 

November,  1900         jor  General  Chaffee  in  Peking  as  sec- 


vn 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

ond  in  command  of  the  American 
Forces.  As  such  had  immediate  com- 
mand of  the  American  Contingent 
with  charge  of  the  American  quarter 
and  the  Southern  entrance  to  the  For- 
bidden City. 

October,  1900  Commanded  the  successful  joint  expedi- 
tion of  the  American  and  British 
forces  against  Boxers  at  the  Eight 
Temples.  Held  review  of  American 
Troops  at  Peking  in  presence  of  lead- 
ing officers  of  the  Treaty  Powers. 


December,  1900 


Returned   to   America.     Declined   fur- 
ther command  or  routine  service. 


March,  1901  Placed  on  Retired  List  as  Brigadier  Gen- 

eral U.  S.  Army  (with  Generals  Fitz- 
hugh  Lee  and  Joseph  Wheeler) ,  in  ac- 
cordance with  Special  Act  of  Con- 
gress at  the  request  of  the  President, 
March  2,  1901. 


1902 


Represented  the  United  States  Army, 
accompanied  by  Lieutenant  Colonel 
John  Biddle  of  the  Engineers  and 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Henry  D.  Borup 
of  the  Ordnance,  at  the  Coronation  of 
King  Edward  VII. 


Honorary  Commissions 

Brevet  Major  U.  S.  A.,  April  11,  1862,  for  gallant  and 
meritorious  services  at  the  capture  of  Fort  Pulaski, 
Ga. 

viii 


PREFACE 

Brevet  Lieutenant  Colonel,  November  24,  1863,  for  gal- 
lant and  meritorious  services  at  the  Battle  of  Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn. 

Brevet  Colonel,  May  5,  1864,  for  gallant  and  meritorious 
services  at  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness. 

Brevet  Major  General  U.  S.  Volunteers,  October  5,  1864, 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  during  the  Re- 
bellion. 

Brevet  Brigadier  General  U.  S.  Army,  March  13,  1865, 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  at  the  Battle  of 
Nashville,  Tenn. 

Brevet  Major  General  U.  S.  Army,  March  13,  1865,  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  services  in  the  capture  of 
Selma,  Ala. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  my  modest  ca- 
reer covered  not  only  a  great  variety  of  military  services, 
but  three  widely  separated  countries  or  theaters  of  opera- 
tions, at  most  important  and  interesting  epochs.  They 
brought  me  in  contact  with  leading  officers  at  army  head- 
quarters, both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  thus  gave  me 
unusual  opportunities  for  observing  character  and  learning 
the  inside  details  of  what  was  taking  place  about  me. 

Holding,  as  I  do,  that  history  and  historical  recollec- 
tions are  valueless  and  had  better  not  be  written  unless 
they  tell  the  simple  truth  as  nearly  as  it  can  be  ascertained 
in  regard  to  both  men  and  events,  I  have  given  my  story 
in  the  following  pages  as  fully  and  frankly  as  my  materials 
and  memory  would  permit.  But  concealing  nothing,  I  have 
set  down  naught  in  malice.  Fortunately,  in  these  modern 
days,  our  military  men  of  rank,  however  much  they  may 
differ  in  personal  characteristics  or  idiosyncrasies,  are 
strictly  honest,  serious  and  devoted  to  duty.  It  gives  me 
pleasure  to  add  that  I  have  never  known  one  who  was  cor- 
rupt or  wilfully  negligent  of  his  orders  or  opportunities 
or  who  was  intentionally  cruel  or  oppressive  to  those  under 
his  command  or  within  his  jurisdiction. 

ix 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

In  the  work  I  now  give  to  the  public,  I  have  had  the 
assistance  of  my  brother,  Colonel  Bluford  Wilson,  of 
Springfield,  Illinois,  in  a  careful  comparison,  page  by  page 
with  the  Official  Records,  and  with  such  contemporaneous 
writings  and  memoirs  as  were  within  reach  and  I  am  under 
great  obligation  to  him  for  his  vigilance  and  perspicacity. 

James  Harrison  Wilson. 
Wilmington,  Delaware. 

June  1,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 

PAGB 

Family  —  Boyhood  —  West   Point  —  Panama — Washington 

Territory — Return  to  the  East 1 


I 
THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION 

Report  at  Washington — Visit  McDowell's  Army — Ordered 
to  Boston — Chief  topographical  engineer  of  Port  Royal 
Expedition — An  army  corps  wasted 57 

II 

PORT   ROYAL   EXPEDITION 

Sherman's  staff — Loading  steamship — Savannah  River — 
Venus  Point — Siege  of  Fort  Pulaski — General  Hunter 
— General  Benham — James*  Islands — Secessionville — 
Officers  of  staff 70 

III 
ANTIETAM  CAMPAIGN 

Return  to  Washington — McClelland  staff — South  Mountain 
— Battle  of  Antietam — Hooker  wounded — Pleasant 
Valley — Return  to  Washington 98 

IV 
INTERVIEW  WITH  McCLELLAN 

Halleck's  Headquarters — General  McClernand — Pleasant 
Valley — Interview  with  McClellan — Washington — Or- 
dered  to    Grant 119 


CONTENTS 

V 
ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

PAGE 

West  Tennessee — Major  Wilson — Northern  Mississippi — 
Major  Rawlins — General  Grant — General  McPherson — 
First  service  with  Cavalry — True  line  of  Operations — 
Campaign  of  Vicksburg — Yazoo  Pass — Running  the 
Batteries 130 

VI 

CHIEF     TOPOGRAPHICAL     ENGINEER     AND     INSPECTOR 

GENERAL 

Bruinsburg  —  Port  Gibson  —  Raymond  —  Jackson  —  Cham- 
pion's Hill — Big  Black  Bridge — Assault  on  Vicksburg 
— General  Lawler — Sergeant  Griffith — General  McCler- 
nand — Charles  A.  Dana 173 

VII 

THE  VICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN 

The  Black  Belt — Lorenzo  Thomas — Cross  the  Mississippi — 
Bayou  Pierre — Grand  Gulf — Captain  Badeau — Mc- 
Pherson at  Raymond — Grant  at  Jackson — Champion's 
Hill — Passage  of  the  Big  Black — The  American  volun- 
teer       188 

VIII 

SIEGE  AND   CAPTURE   OF  VICKSBURG 

First  assault — Complete  investment — Hot  weather — Grant 
rides  the  lines — McClernand  relieved — Close  investment 
— Pemberton  surrenders — Reorganization  of  volunteer 
army 208 

IX 
SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO   CENTRAL  ALABAMA 

Headquarters  in  Vicksburg — Rawlins  and  Grant — Grant 
visits  New  Orleans — Season  of  rest — Inspection  tour — 
Army  wastes  summer — Grant  and  staff  ordered  to 
Chattanooga — Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi. . . .     234 

xii 


'CONTENTS 

X 

THE  CHATTANOOGA  CAMPAIGN 

PAGB 

Rosecrans  relieved — Thomas  succeeds — "Will  hold  Chatta- 
nooga till  we  starve" — Grant  and  staff  arrive — Meet 
Thomas — Ride  to  Chattanooga — Recommended  for  pro- 
motion— Porter  introduced — Grant  and  Thomas — Baldy 
Smith — Opening  the  Cracker  Line — Ride  to  Knoxville 
— Orders  for  Burnside 263 

XI 

MISSIONAEY   EIDGE 

Brigadier  and  inspector  general — Sherman  arrives — Plan  of 
battle — Details  of  movements — Claims  of  Grant  and 
Sherman — Thomas  carries  Ridge — Granger  and  Sher- 
man sent  to  Knoxville — Bridging  the  rivers — Major 
Hoffman — Longstreet  rejoins  Lee — Grant  goes  to 
Knoxville — Cumberland  Gap — Lexington — Establishes 
winter  headquarters  at  Nashville 289 


XII 

TEN  WEEKS  IN  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT  AS  CHIEF  OF 
CAVALRY  BUREAU 

Grant,  Lieutenant  General — Rawlins  married — Chief-of- 
staff — Report  to  Secretary  of  War  for  duty — Prepare 
new  regulations — Horse  contractors — Duties  of  new 
position — Andrew  Johnson's  cavalry  regiments — Part- 
ing with  Secretary  Stanton 321 


XIII 
SERVICES   IN  WASHINGTON 

Administration  and  duties  of  Cavalry  Bureau — Horse-pur- 
chasing stations — Governors  Andrew,  Morton,  and  Den- 
nison — Grant  at  Nashville — Dine  with  Lincoln — Lin- 
coln and  Ward  Lam  on — Discontentment  with  govern- 
ment— Loyalty  of  army — Return  to  field  service 341 


y;n 


CONTENTS 

XIV 

COMMANDING  THIRD   CAVALRY  DIVISION 

PAGE 

General  plan  of  campaign — Report  to  Meade — Relieve  Kil- 
patrick — Confirmation  delayed — Spencer  carbines — 
Position  of  opposing  armies 357 

XV 

GRANT'S  OVERLAND   CAMPAIGN 

First  to  cross  the  Rapidan — Craig's  Meeting  House — Ca- 
tharpen  Road — Todd's  Tavern  —  Chancellorsville  — 
Sedgwick's  flank  turned — Grant's  behavior — Occupation 
of  Spottsylvania  Court  House — Meade,  Warren,  and 
Sedgwick — Incident  with  Warren — Meeting  with  Grant 
— Defective  organization  of  army 378 

XVI 

GRANT   IN   THE   WILDERNESS 

Sherman's  raid  against  Lee's  communications — Battle  of 
Yellow  Tavern — Death  of  J.  E.  B.  Stuart — Affair  near 
Richmond — Passage  of  the  Chickahominy — James  River 
— Return  to  Grant's  army — Turn  Lee's  left  at  Jericho 
Mills — Meet  Grant  and  Rawlins — Army  gossip 405 

XVII 
GRANT'S   ADVANCE   TO   THE   JAMES 

Operations  on  Pamunkey  and  North  Anna — Fights  at  Han- 
over Court  House — Ashland  and  South  Anna — Toto- 
potomy — Haw's  Shop — Behind  Lee's  left — Captain 
Ulffers — Prepared  rations — Sheridan  detached — De- 
feated by  Hampton — Cold  Harbor — Upton's  com- 
ments         426 

xiv 


CONTENTS 

XVIII 
THE  CAMPAIGN  SOUTH  OF  THE  JAMES 

PAGI 

Crossing  the  Chickahominy — Charles  City  Court  House — 
Saint  Mary's  Church — Parker  the  Indian — Covering 
the  rear — Crossing  the  James — Visit  from  Dana  and 
Rawlins — Prince  George  Court  House — Operations 
against  Weldon,  Danville,  and  Southside  Railroads — 
Destruction  of  railroads — Return  from  Staunton  River 
— Sapony  Creek — Reams  Station — Failure  of  Sheridan 
and  the  infantry  to  keep  door  open 450 

XIX 

BEEAKING   LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

Grant  scatters  his  cavalry — Sheridan's  failure  north  of 
Richmond — Wilson's  destruction  of  railroads  south  of 
Richmond — Sheridan  at  White  House — Slow  to  rejoin 
Army  of  Potomac — Hampton  beats  him  to  Weldon 
Railroad — Records  and  dispatches  in  the  case — Sher- 
idan's delays  and  excuses — Wilson's  return  to  Reams 
Station  —  Whitaker  takes  word  to  Meade  —  Grant, 
Meade,  and  Humphreys  order  assistance — Wilson  runs 
for  it — Sheridan  still  a  laggard — Kautz  lies  down  and 
quits — Sheridan's  efforts  to  exculpate  himself — Wilson 
crosses  Blackwater  and  arrives  at  Chipoak  Swamp — 
Case  fully  stated  from  the  records — Grant,  Meade,  and 
Dana  declare  expedition  a  success — Confirmation  of 
Confederate  records 483 

XX 

RESTING  AND  REFITTING  DIVISION  ON  THE  JAMES 
Charges  of  Richmond  newspapers — Meade  asks  for  expla- 
nations— Serious  epoch — Early  crosses  Potomac  and 
threatens  Washington — Sheridan  in  command  against 
him — Wilson  goes  to  Sheridan's  assistance — Interview 
with  Stanton  at  Washington — Covers  Sheridan's  rear 
from  Winchester  to  Halltown — Affair  at  Kearneyville 
— Revisits  Antietam  battlefield — Return  to  Valley  of 
Virginia   528 


CONTENTS 

XXI 

IN  THE  VALLEY  OF  VIEGINIA 

PAGK 

Sheridan  rests  and  reconnoiters — Mcintosh  captures  South 
Carolina  regiments — Grant  orders  Sheridan  to  "go  in" 
— Battle  of  the  Opequan  or  Winchester — Wilson  opens 
the  engagement — Torbert  and  Wilson  in  pursuit — 
Gooney  Run — Staunton — Browntown  Gap — Return  to 
Harrisonburg — Wilson  ordered  West  to  reorganize  and 
command  Sherman's  cavalry 548 


Xvl 


UNDER  THE   OLD  FLAG 

VOLUME   I 

INTRODUCTION 

Family  —  Boyhood  — West  Point — Panama —  Washington 
Territory — Return  to  the  East. 

My  family  name,  Wilson,  is  of  Anglo-Danish 
origin  and  is  found  wherever  English-speaking 
people  and  their  descendants  are  living.  It  belongs 
to  the  self-evoluting  class  and  generally  implies 
nothing  closer  than  clanship.  It  has  been  known  in 
the  States  from  the  earliest  days. 

My  own  forbears  first  settled  in  Tidewater,  Vir- 
ginia, whence  they  spread  to  Spottsylvania  and  Cul- 
peper  Counties,  thence  over  the  Blue  Ridge  into  the 
valley  regions,  and  finally  to  Kentucky  and  the  allur- 
ing West.  My  father,  Harrison  Wilson,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Alexander  Wilson  and  his  wife,  Elinor 
Harrison.  He  was  born  near  Front  Royal,  Virginia, 
in  1789.  His  mother,  through  Thomas  Harrison, 
was  connected  with  the  Harrisons  of  the  James 
River  country.  She  was  famed  for  her  courtly  man- 
ners and  amiable  character. 

Alexander  Wilson's  father  was  Isaac  Wilson,  for 
three  years  a  sergeant  in  Captain  Augustine  Tabb  's 
company  of  the  Second  Virginia  state   line,  com- 

1 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

manded  by  Colonel  William  Brent.  His  wife  was 
Margaret  Gordon,  daughter  of  John  Gordon  and 
Barbara  Cullom,  evidently  of  Scotch  origin. 

My  paternal  ancestors,  as  far  back  as  we  can 
trace  them,  originating  in  and  coming  from  North- 
umberland, part  of  ancient  Bernicia,  intermarried 
with  the  leading  families  of  the  Old  Dominion  and 
took  an  active  part  in  all  that  concerned  its  growth 
and  welfare.  But,  like  many  Virginians,  Isaac  Wil- 
son with  his  brothers,  sons,  and  nephews  who  were 
ruined  by  the  War  of  Independence,  wisely  con- 
cluded that  it  would  be  easier  to  rebuild  their  homes 
and  mend  their  fortunes  in  a  new  country  than  in  the 
old,  and  consequently,  as  soon  as  they  could  manage 
it,  after  the  Eevolution,  emigrated  to  Kentucky. 

After  settling  with  his  family  in  the  Blue  Grass 
country  near  the  present  city  of  Lexington,  Alex- 
ander Wilson  and  his  brother  Thornton  went  on  to 
the  Ohio  Eiver,  where  the  former  opened  a  consid- 
erable farm  near  a  shipping  point  known  as  Raleigh, 
a  few  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash. 

Shortly  afterward  the  general  government  own- 
ing the  Illinois  salines  laid  out  Shawneetown  on  the 
Ohio  River  in  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  terri- 
tory as  the  landing  and  entrepot  of  the  Salt  Works. 
The  place  grew  rapidly  into  the  most  important 
settlement  of  that  region.  My  grandfather  living 
nearby,  naturally  became  one  of  the  first  settlers, 
and  through  his  kinsman,  General  Harrison,  then 
governor  of  the  territory,  received  a  grant  of  the 
ferry-right  both  ways  across  the  Ohio,  which,  after 
his  death  in  1814,  was  confirmed  to  his  heirs  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  the  Illinois  legislature.  It  came 
in  due  course,  by  inheritance  and  purchase,  to  my 

2 


INTRODUCTION 

brother  and  myself  and  after  a  hundred  years  is 
still  operated  under  lease  from  us. 

Alexander  Wilson,  evidently  a  notable  citizen, 
was  in  1812  elected  a  member  of  the  first  American 
legislature  ever  convened  in  Illinois,  and  as  chair- 
man of  several  of  its  principal  committees  exercised 
a  controlling  influence  not  only  in  selecting,  framing, 
and  passing  laws  for  the  new  territory,  but  in  pro- 
viding for  its  defence  against  the  British  emissaries 
and  their  savage  allies.  Shortly  after  the  session 
of  1813  my  grandfather  died,  but  my  father,  instead 
of  leaving  his  body  in  a  French  graveyard  at  Kas- 
kaskia,  removed  it  to  Shawneetown,  and,  as  was  the 
custom,  buried  it  on  the  paternal  farm  in  Kentucky. 

Harrison  Wilson  was  at  that  time  just  reaching 
man's  estate.  Although  quite  a  lad  when  his  family 
left  Virginia,  he  remembered  but  little  of  it  except 
that  he  had  been  taken  to  Alexandria  by  his  father 
to  call  on  General  Washington,  and  that  the  general 
had  kindly  patted  him  on  the  head  while  making  a 
neighborly  inquiry  as  to  his  mother's  health. 

My  father,  of  course,  shared  the  travels  and 
hardships  of  his  family,  with  but  little  time  and  less 
opportunity  for  education  beyond  that  given  by  his 
mother  and  father.  He  had  a  few  terms  from  the 
peripatetic  schoolmaster  of  the  settlements,  and,  be- 
ing intelligent  and  fond  of  reading,  although  books 
were  scarce  and  newspapers  unknown  on  the  fron- 
tier, became  a  man  of  more  than  average  attainments. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  second  war  with  Great 
Britain,  Harrison  Wilson  was  commissioned  ensign 
September  17,  1812,  in  Captain  Thomas  E.  Craig's 
company  of  Frontier  Riflemen,  and  took  part  in  an 
expedition  of  two  keel  boats  by  the  Illinois  Eiver  to 

3 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Fort  Creve-Cceur,  near  the  present  city  of  Peoria, 
for  the  purpose  of  breaking  up  the  liquor  traffic 
and  overawing  the  Indian  allies  of  the  British.  The 
boats  were  armed  with  swivels  and  blunderbusses 
and  were  impenetrable  to  rifle  bullets.  The  expedi- 
tion, lasting  four  months,  was  so  successful  that 
Captain  Craig  was  promoted  to  major  of  the  Fourth 
Territorial  Regiment,  while  my  father,  although  only 
twenty-two,  was  made  captain  April  17,  1813,  to 
fill  the  vacancy.  Although  no  part  of  the  regiment 
was  again  called  into  service,  he  continued  his  con- 
nection with  it,  and  after  the  establishment  of  peace 
became  its  colonel. 

Although  a  farmer,  stock-raiser,  and  trader  to 
New  Orleans,  my  father  was  elected  county  treasurer 
and  sheriff  in  turn  and  led  a  busy  and  active  life 
till  the  Black  Hawk  War  took  him  again  into  the 
army  as  captain  of  Illinois  Mounted  Volunteers, 
first  regiment,  first  brigade.  His  company,  contain- 
ing many  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Gallatin  County, 
was  mustered  into  the  service  May  15,  and  dis- 
charged August  12,  1832. 

During  the  brief  campaign  which  followed,  my 
father  made  the  acquaintance  of  Winfield  Scott, 
Zachary  Taylor,  Jefferson  Davis,  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston,  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  all  of  whom  were 
serving  at  that  time  in  Illinois  as  officers  of  the 
regular  army.  He  also  met  Captain  Abraham  Lin- 
coln and  the  leading  officers  of  the  territorial  forces. 

After  this  campaign,  the  last  against  the  Indians 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  my  father  settled  down  and 
led  an  uneventful  life  to  the  end.  On  the  outbreak 
of  the  Mexican  War,  he  offered  a  regiment  of  volun- 
teers from  the  lower  counties  of  the  state,  but  as 

4 


INTRODUCTION 

only  six  were  needed,  his  offer  was  declined  with 
the  assurance  of  the  governor  that  if  another  were 
required  his  regiment  should  be  taken. 

The  decade  after  the  Mexican  War  was  a  tur- 
bulent one  in  southeastern  Illinois.  The  closing  of 
the  salt  works  had  let  loose  a  large  number  of  rough 
operatives,  white  and  black.  Gambling,  drinking, 
horse-racing,  and  gun-fighting  prevailed,  the  slavery 
question  came  to  the  front  as  it  had  done  once  be- 
fore, and  kidnapping  became  common  along  the  bor- 
der of  the  slave  states.  Among  the  first  victims 
was  a  colored  girl  who  had  belonged  to  the  Wilson 
family.  She  was  taken  to  New  Orleans  and  sold 
to  a  planter  on  the  Red  Eiver,  but  as  soon  as  she 
could  be  located  my  father  went  for  her,  and,  after 
much  legal  formality  and  trouble,  brought  her  home 
in  triumph.  After  a  similar  service  in  another  case 
of  the  same  sort,  which  aroused  the  public  con- 
science, under  his  leadership,  he  had  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  all  forms  of  violence  vindicated  and  the 
rowdies  and  kidnappers  brought  to  punishment  or 
driven  out  of  the  state. 

But  my  father's  career  was  drawing  to  a  close. 
Although  a  man  of  extraordinary  activity  and  en- 
durance, he  fell  sick,  and,  after  a  lingering  illness, 
died  February  9,  1852,  at  the  age  of  63.  He  was 
always  independent  in  politics  and  never  forgot  that 
he  was  a  Virginian.  He  was  twice  married.  His 
first  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Waggoner,  a 
Virginian,  who  had  settled  in  Union  County,  Ken- 
tucky. She  died  early,  leaving  one  son,  John  An- 
drew, who  removed  to  Hamilton  County,  where  he 
became  sheriff,  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  a 
leading  merchant.    He  had  several  children,  the  old- 

5 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

est  of  whom,  John  Harrison,  became  a  highly  suc- 
cessful contractor,  and  is  now  one  of  the  wealthiest 
and  most  highly  respected  citizens  of  the  county. 

Harrison  Wilson's  second  wife,  Katharine 
Schneyder,  was  my  mother.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Augustus  Schneyder,  an  ex-soldier  of  the  Napo- 
leonic wars  and  mayor  of  Gambsheim,  in  Rhenish 
Alsace,  near  Strasburg.  He  was  a  manufacturer 
and  a  thoughtful  man  who,  seeing  the  unsettled  con- 
ditions at  home  and  the  coming  greatness  of  the 
United  States,  emigrated,  as  was  then  the  custom, 
with  his  wife,  Louisa  Studer,  and  several  children, 
landing  at  Philadelphia  in  1818.  Thence  he  made 
his  way  to  Pittsburg  by  wagon  and  down  the  Ohio 
by  houseboat  to  New  Harmony,  Indiana,  the  idealist 
settlement  of  the  Rappites.  Here  he  remained  sev- 
eral years,  but  on  the  death  of  his  wife  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  Shawneetown,  forty  miles  to  the 
southwest,  where  my  father  made  their  acquaint- 
ance and  married  the  eldest  daughter,  my  mother. 
But,  drawn  by  the  superior  attractions  of  the  lead 
mine  region  in  the  northwestern  corner  of  the  state, 
my  grandfather  made  his  way  to  Galena,  where, 
after  some  years  of  mining,  he  settled  down  on  a 
farm  near  that  of  the  Rawlins  family,  whose  eldest 
son  long  years  afterward  became  my  intimate  friend 
and  associate  on  General  Grant's  staff  and  finally 
chief-of-staff  of  the  army  and  secretary  of  war. 

My  father  and  mother  had  three  daughters  and 
four  sons.  One  daughter  and  three  sons  grew  up 
and  took  part  according  to  their  opportunities  in 
the  affairs  of  our  times. 

I  was  born  at  the  home  farm  September  2,  1837, 
about   two  miles   and  a  half  from  Shawneetown, 

6 


INTRODUCTION 

where  I  went  through  the  town  schools  kept  by  a 
series  of  worthy  masters  till  I  was  fifteen.  After 
a  few  months  in  a  general  store  and  a  year  with  my 
uncle,  Orval  Pool,  the  principal  produce  merchant 
of  the  region,  I  saved  money  enough  to  pay  for  fur- 
ther education  for  something  less  than  a  year.  I  en- 
tered McKendree  College,  St.  Clair  County,  as  a 
freshman  and  passed  the  winter  of  1854-5  in  prepar- 
ing myself  for  West  Point. 

Through  the  endorsement  of  Major  Samuel  K. 
Casey,  Captain  John  M.  Cunningham  (whose  eldest 
daughter  became  Mrs.  John  A.  Logan),  the  Honor- 
able Willis  Allen,  outgoing  member  of  Congress,  and 
of  the  Honorable  Samuel  S.  Marshall,  his  successor, 
all  of  whom  were  my  warm  personal  friends,  I  se- 
cured my  appointment  to  West  Point,  where,  after 
an  interesting  trip  by  the  way  of  Washington,  Phil- 
adelphia and  New  York,  I  reported  for  duty  on 
June  5,  1855. 

My  class  was  the  first  ever  appointed  to  pursue 
the  five  years'  course  ordered  by  Jefferson  Davis, 
then  secretary  of  war,  and  the  first  and  only  one, 
except  the  younger  part  of  the  class  ahead  of  us, 
that  ever  completed  that  course.  We  were  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  in  all,  but  nineteen  or  twenty 
were  rejected  as  cleficient  in  one  or  another  of  the 
modest  requirements  of  the  day.  During  the  five 
years  which  followed  the  exactions  were  severe  and 
the  standard  high,  so  that  some  sixty  more  fell  by 
the  wayside,  leaving  forty-one,  or  only  one-third  of 
the  original  number  to  graduate. 

Personally,  I  had  nothing  to  complain  of.  I  en- 
joyed the  novelty  of  my  first  encampment.  It  was 
fresh,  invigorating,  and  at  times  exciting,  but  from 

7 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

the  first  it  was  hard  work  during  the  day,  with  con- 
tinual vigilance  and  resistance  during  the  night. 
Hazing  was  practiced  in  full  force.  It  was  good- 
natured,  but  at  times  rather  rough  play  between 
old  and  new  cadets,  which,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  did 
no  harm  but  much  good  to  all.  It  sharpened  our 
observation,  stimulated  our  vigilance  and  excited 
our  curiosity.  It  may  have  discouraged  the  home- 
sick and  weak-hearted,  but  it  certainly  diet  no  injury 
whatever  to  such  as  met  it  with  good-natured  re- 
sistance and  were  fit  for  the  life  they  had  chosen. 
It  brought  me  but  one  adventure  which,  fortunately, 
ended  to  my  advantage.  Two  older  cadets,  Lockett 
of  Alabama  and  Nicodemus  of  Maryland,  called  on 
me  one  hot  afternoon  in  July  and  most  courteously 
invited  me  to  go  swimming  with  them.  As  it  was 
the  first  civility  of  the  kind  I  had  received,  and  as 
I  had  begun  to  long  for  a  plunge  in  the  stately 
Hudson,  I  eagerly  accepted,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
we  were  at  Gee's  Point.  After  a  question  or  two 
about  the  depth  of  the  water  and  the  best  place 
to  go  in  and  come  out,  I  jumped  in  head  first  and 
had  hardly  got  my  nose  above  the  water  when  my 
friends  were  close  upon  me.  A  glance  revealed  the 
fact  that  they  were  aiming  to  duck  me,  but,  select- 
ing the  weaker  swimmer,  I  made  for  him,  and,  sepa- 
rating him  from  the  other,  placed  my  hands  on  his 
head  and  pushed  him  under.  As  he  went  down  I 
gave  him  an  extra  shove  with  both  feet  toward  the 
bottom.  The  other  was  after  me  instantly,  but,  as 
soon  as  I  thought  it  safe,  I  slackened  speed  and  al- 
lowed him  to  close  up,  when  I  delivered  him  a  sharp, 
"  stern-wheel ' '  kick  on  the  nose,  which  brought  the 
blood  and  ended  the  engagement.    My  antagonists 

8 


INTRODUCTION 

were  both  genuine  sportsmen,  and,  instead  of  losing 
their  temper,  took  my  resistance  good  naturedly. 
They  were  somewhat  surprised,  however,  to  learn 
that  a  raw  plebe  could  swim,  but  when  I  explained 
that  I  was  brought  up  on  the  Ohio  Eiver,  not  only 
did  they  conclude  I  would  do,  but  we  became  fast 
friends  and  swimming  companions  for  the  rest  of 
the  season. 

Our  class  was  composed  of  the  usual  assortment 
of  young  men  from  both  north  and  south.  We  had 
the  nephew  of  a  president  and  the  son  of  a  governor, 
and  the  planters,  farmers,  lawyers,  doctor,  preach- 
ers, merchants,  and  even  mechanics,  were  all  repre- 
sented. It  was  a  pure  democracy  in  which  all  were 
equal,  and  nothing  counted  but  character  and  brains. 
The  January  examinations  weeded  out  a  good  many, 
but  by  the  end  of  the  year  those  likely  to  graduate 
had  become  pretty  well  known,  and  they  had  taken 
on  the  air  and  bearing  of  seasoned  cadets,  which  in 
ranks  made  them  look  as  much  like  each  other  as 
pins  in  a  paper. 

At  the  end  of  the  year,  although  I  had  started 
next  to  foot,  I  was  in  the  first  or  second  section  in 
all  the  studies.  My  two  terms  at  college  had  been 
of  great  advantage  in  teaching  me  how  to  study. 
I  had  no  difficulty  in  any  branch,  and  did  my  daily 
task  easily  enough,  and,  after  a  few  months,  had 
plenty  of  time  left  for  general  reading.  This  was 
the  case  to  the  end  of  my  cadet  life.  The  library 
contained  some  twenty  thousand  volumes,  largely 
military,  but  all  fairly  well  selected,  and,  although 
nothing  was  done  to  encourage  its  use,  or  to  guide 
the  cadets  in  the  selection  of  books,  it  was  free  to 
all  who  had  time  or  inclination  to  visit  it  after  study 

9 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

hours  or  on  holidays.  I  soon  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Fries,  the  curator.  During  my  first  encampment 
I  read  Story's  "Constitutional  Law"  and  a  general 
assortment  of  romance  and  history,  and  after  that 
not  only  became  a  steady  patron  of  it,  but  close 
friends  with  the  kindly  Fries,  who  had  a  wonderful 
memory,  and  was  most  helpful  in  introducing  me  to 
his  treasures.  As  I  grew  older  he  became  more  con- 
siderate, and  I  hold  him  in  grateful  memory  for  his 
unfailing  kindness.  The  instructors  came  and  went, 
but  he  remained  at  his  post,  not  only  for  my  term, 
but  for  long  years  afterward,  and  if  I  should  be 
called  upon  to  say  who  did  me  the  most  good  and 
helped  me  most  to  equip  myself  for  the  duties  of 
life,  I  should  unhesitatingly  say  Andre  Fries,  the 
old  librarian. 

At  the  end  of  my  first  year,  all  unconscious  of 
having  made  any  special  progress,  I  was  more 
greatly  surprised  and  gratified  than  I  ever  was  at 
any  subsequent  promotion  when  my  name  was  read 
out  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  lance-corporals  to 
receive  and  break  in  the  new  candidates  for  admis- 
sion. As  this  was  followed  by  my  appointment  as 
first  corporal,  and  later  as  acting  first  sergeant  of 
"A"  Company,  and  finally  as  the  fi>st  sergeant  of 
"B"  Company,  I  became  quite  military  as  well  as 
a  "stern  man"  on  duty. 

I  was  thus  a  cadet  non-commissioned  officer  in 
good  standing  for  the  better  part  of  two  years,  but 
my  career  as  such  was  cut  short  by  an  untoward 
incident  for  which  I  was  not  altogether  culpable. 
My  clerk,  whose  duty  it  was  to  keep  the  roster,  made 
out  the  guard  details,  and  put  the  daily  list  under 
my  gunsight,  unfortunately  regarding  it  beneath  the 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

dignity  of  a  first  class  man  to  perform  sentry  duty, 
and,  in  accordance  with  custom,  omitted  the  names 
of  all  first  class  men  from  the  details.  The  omission 
was  soon  discovered,  but,  compromising  with  my 
sense  of  duty,  I  refrained  from  putting  an  end  to 
it  till  it  was  too  late.  By  some  means,  never  ex- 
plained, my  company  commander,  Lieutenant  Mc- 
Cook,  afterward  a  distinguished  major  general  and 
an  army  corps  commander,  discovered  it  and  haled 
me  with  the  other  first  sergeants  before  the  com- 
mandant of  cadets.  The  latter  made  short  work 
of  it  as  a  clear  case  of  gross  neglect  of  duty,  and, 
as  it  could  neither  be  denied  nor  explained,  he  sent 
us  all  to  our  quarters  in  arrest.  In  a  short  time 
the  superintendent  reduced  us  to  the  ranks  and  sen- 
tenced each  to  perform  ten  extra  tours  of  camp 
guard  duty  and  to  be  confined  to  the  limits  of  the 
camp  till  the  punishment  was  completed. 

During  my  stay  at  West  Point  I  naturally  be- 
came expert  in  the  exercises  and  tactics  of  the  va- 
rious arms  and,  both  as  a  corporal  and  sergeant, 
felt  that  I  was  as  good  a  drill  master  as  could  be 
found.  At  West  Point  as  well  as  elsewhere  it  is 
the  pride  of  every  non-commissioned  officer  to  make 
his  squad  as  nearly  perfect  as  possible,  and  with  the 
best  men  it  is  remarkable  how  rapidly  they  progress, 
and  how  soon  they  become  skillful  in  every  military 
practice. 

Having  in  later  life  seen  many  of  the  crack  regi- 
ments of  Europe  and  Asia,  I  entertain  no  doubt 
whatever  that  the  corps  of  cadets  at  West  Point,  all 
things  considered,  is  the  best  battalion  of  infantry 
in  the  world.  For  most  of  my  time  Colonel  Hardee, 
the  author  of  the  tactics,  afterward  a  Confederate 

11 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

lieutenant-general,  was  commandant,  and  with  his 
rigid  instruction  the  corps  became  almost  perfect 
in  bearing,  discipline,  and  drill.  Under  his  search- 
ing eye  no  slouchy  man  escaped.  I  can  hear  now 
his  clarion  voice,  with  its  slightly  Southern  accent, 
sing  out:  "Attention,  battalion!  Hold  up  your 
head,  Mr.  Sweet,  you'll  never  make  a  soldier  in  your 
life ! '  •  *  And  then  would  follow  the  command  with 
which  the  drill  began.  But  Hardee  was  not  satisfied 
to  let  the  battalion  go  with  his  instruction.  No  one 
knew  better  than  he  that  perfection  in  the  school 
of  the  soldier  and  squad  is  necessary  to  perfection 
in  the  school  of  the  company  and  battalion,  and  con- 
sequently he  was  always  on  the  drill  ground  when 
the  new  cadets  were  being  broken  in. 

I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  an  awkward  in- 
cident under  his  eye  which  brought  an  unexpected 
laugh  upon  me.  As  we  were  approaching  the  end 
of  our  second  encampment,  I  was  putting  my  best 
squad  of  twelve  men  through  inspection  of  arms  in 
my  severest  manner.  Hardee  was  looking  on  as  I 
thought  with  approval.  Everything  went  well  and 
to  my  entire  satisfaction  till  I  stepped  in  front  of 
the  squad  preparatory  to  closing  ranks.  I  had  no- 
ticed a  pile  of  cobble-stones  nearby,  but,  as  I  started 
to  walk  backward  for  the  purpose  of  taking  in  the 
whole  squad  at  a  glance,  I  felt  the  stones  under  my 
heels,  and  almost  instantly  they  began  to  roll.  My 
feet  became  entangled  and,  losing  my  balance,  I  fell 
completely  over  backward.  Of  course,  the  exhibition 
I  made  was  more  than  the  squad  could  stand.  Every 

1  In  fact,  he  became  one  of  the  most  gallant  men  of  his  day, 
and  was  killed  while  leading  a  squadron  headon  at  Gaines'  Mill 
against  Jackson's  Corps. 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

man  of  them,  and  especially  Cadet  McKenzie,1  broke 
out  in  an  audible  laugh.  Hardee  himself  failed  to 
keep  his  face  straight,  and  this  made  the  situation 
all  the  more  embarrassing.  But  I  always  thought 
I  proved  myself  equal  to  the  occasion.  Springing 
to  my  feet  at  once,  I  sang  out :  ' '  Close  ranks,  march ! 
Fours,  left !  Forward,  double  quick,  march ! ' !  And 
off  we  went  around  the  plain  without  halting.  By 
the  time  we  had  made  one  turn  the  breathing  became 
heavy,  but,  as  it  seemed  to  me  there  was  still  enough 
breath  left  for  another  laugh,  I  continued  the  double- 
quick  till  we  got  around  a  second  time,  when  I  halted 
the  squad  and  gave  the  command:  " Order  arms — 
in  place,  rest!"  It  is  notable  that  although  we  had 
covered  something  like  a  mile  and  a  half  at  full 
speed,  no  one  had  fallen  out,  but  all  were  so  nearly 
exhausted  that  when  I  asked  quite  informally,  as  I 
did,  if  they  thought  they  could  witness  such  another 
accident  without  laughing  they  were  unanimous  in 
saying  they  thought  they  could.  This,  of  course, 
closed  the  incident,  though  the  commandant  inti- 
mated later  that  he  thought  the  punishment  some- 
what too  great  for  the  offense.  In  this  he  was  prob- 
ably right,  but  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  as  long 
as  I  remained  first  sergeant  of  that  company  I  had 
perfect  order  in  ranks. 

Those  were  great  days,  and,  while  the  drilling 
and  studying  were  intermingled  with  dancing,  fenc- 
ing, riding,  and  gymnastics,  time  passed  rapidly  and 
agreeably,  with  marked  improvement  to  both  body 
and  mind.  'When  we  graduated  there  was  not  an 
infirm  or  unsound  man  in  the  class,  but,  on  the  con- 

1  Afterwards  a  distinguished  brigadier  and  major  general  of 
cavalry, 

13 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

trary,  there  were  many  who  would  have  passed  any- 
where as  athletes  of  no  mean  quality,  although  the 
period  of  football  and  baseball  was  yet  in  the  future. 
The  entire  course  was  admirably  arranged  to  com- 
bine physical  with  mental  development,  and  in  this 
connection  I  give  it  as  my  deliberate  opinion,  after 
many  years  of  observation,  that  the  national  schools 
at  West  Point  and  Annapolis  are  the  best  of  their 
kind  in  the  world.  They  get  all  there  is  to  be  had 
out  of  the  cadets,  and  ruthlessly  send  away  those 
who  cannot  reach  the  required  standard  of  efficiency. 
There  is  no  idling,  no  lost  time,  and  no  favoritism, 
and  the  result  is  altogether  admirable. 

Having  been  accustomed  to  horses  from  child- 
hood, I  became  a  good  theoretical,  as  well  as  practi- 
cal horseman.  It  was  my  lot  to  be  put  in  charge  of 
vicious  mounts,  more  than  one  of  which  fell  over 
backward  or  ran  away  with  me,  but,  fortunately, 
without  doing  me  any  harm.  It  was  due  solely  to 
this  fact,  as  well  as  to  the  manner  in  which  I  man- 
aged my  own  horses  in  the  field,  that  I  was  assigned 
to  the  command  of  cavalry  after  I  reached  the  grade 
of  brigadier  general,  through  two  and  a  half  years' 
service  in  the  engineering  and  inspecting  depart- 
ments. 

Looking  back  on  my  military  life,  I  have  only 
two  regrets  in  connection  with  it:  first,  that  I  was 
never  an  enlisted  man  in  the  infantry  or  cavalry, 
because,  with  my  health,  activity,  powers  of  endur- 
ance, and  skill  in  handling  a  rifle  and  a  horse,  I  al- 
ways felt  that  I  would  have  been  as  good  a  soldier 
as  could  be  found  anywhere  in  the  ranks,  while  I 
was  far  from  having  the  same  confidence  in  my  ca- 
pacity as  a  commissioned  officer;  and,  second,  that 

14 


INTRODUCTION 

I  was  never  a  prisoner  of  war,  because  I  felt  that 
the  privation  and  ill  treatment  of  that  fate  would 
have  stimulated  me  to  even  greater  determination 
and  services  in  behalf  of  the  Union  cause. 

My  last  summer,  like  all  the  rest,  was  a  busy  one, 
for,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  my  confinement,  as  well 
as  the  extra  guard  duty  to  which  I  had  been  sen- 
tenced, I  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  walking  my 
regular  and  extra  tours  consecutively,  and  thus  for 
twelve  days  without  intermission  I  was  constantly 
on  guard,  walking  two  hours  and  resting  four,  both 
day  and  night,  till  I  had  paid  the  penalty  and  wiped 
out  the  score  against  me. 

In  addition  to  performing  all  regular  duties,  I 
was  up  to  everything  within  limits  and  to  an  occa- 
sional trip  off  limits  in  those  days.  At  the  ' '  Eagle 
Valley  Retreat*'  fried  chicken  and  buckwheat  cakes 
were  most  attractively  served  by  the  landlord's  eld- 
est daughter,  and  cakes  always  kept  coming  till  one 
of  our  number,  a  handsome  Virginian,  would  stop 
them  by  a  graceful  wave  of  the  hand  and  ' '  sufficient 
of  the  buckwheats,  Sarie."  Fortunately,  these  es- 
capades, during  which  I  swam  the  river  more  than 
once  to  the  trestle  work  above  Garrisons  and  back 
to  the  Point,  were  undetected  and  therefore  un- 
punished. 

My  aggregate  recorded  demerits  amounted  to 
something  like  one  hundred  and  seventy  for  the  five 
years  of  my  cadet  life,  and,  as  conduct  counts  along 
with  studies  and  duties  in  making  up  class  standing, 
I  paid  the  penalty  in  the  end  by  graduating  only 
sixth  in  the  class,  when,  if  I  had  been  a  "good  boy," 
I  might  have  done  one  or  two  files  better.  But,  as 
General  Grant  used  to  say:    "We  had  a  power  of 

15 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

fun  in  those  days,"  and  I  do  not  see  even  now  how 
closer  attention  to  studies  or  a  closer  observance 
of  regulations  could  have  materially  improved  either 
my  education  or  my  happiness. 

My  class,  after  having  been  sifted  to  the  irre- 
ducible minimum  of  forty-one,  was  generally  consid- 
ered a  good  one.  It  certainly  had  several  admirable 
scholars  in  it,  notably  McFarland,  Bowen  and  Tardy, 
besides  quite  a  number  who  rose  to  high  rank  and 
distinction,  among  whom  were  Porter,  Merritt,  Pen- 
nington, Hall,  Jones,  Randol,  Martin,  Marsh,  War- 
ner, and  John  M.  Wilson. 

Although  most  of  our  number  were  disappointed 
at  not  graduating  in  four  years,  as  was  at  one  time 
ordered,  instead  of  staying  five,  as  originally  in- 
tended, it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  extra  year 
was  well  and  profitably  employed,  and  in  the  end 
gave  us  an  unusually  good  preparation  for  the  great 
war  which  broke  out  within  a  year  after  we  grad- 
uated. I  was  not  disappointed,  for  I  felt  that  our 
last  year  would  round  out  our  education  and  put  us 
on  higher  ground  than  our  predecessors  had  gener- 
ally attained. 

The  professors  and  instructors  of  the  day  were 
aole  and  conscientious  men.  Mahan,  Church,  Bart- 
lett,  and  Kendrick  had  already  become  famous,  and 
our  superintendent,  military  staff,  and  daily  in- 
structors were  mostly  officers  of  rare  ability.  Among 
the  number  were  Delafield,  Duane,  W.  F.  Smith, 
Casey,  Craighill,  and  Weitzel,  of  the  engineers ;  Ben- 
ton and  Howard  of  the  ordnance;  Hardee,  Field, 
Williams,  and  Cosby  of  the  cavalry;  Silvey,  Sill, 
Holabird,  Fry,  Perry,  and  Gibbon  of  the  artillery; 
Walker,  Clitz,  Cogswell,  Washington,  Wilcox,  Mc- 

16 


INTRODUCTION 

Cook,  and  many  others  of  the  infantry.  They  had 
all  seen  service  and  were  studious,  hard-working, 
and  dignified  officers,  who  seemed  to  take  as  much 
pride  in  studying  for  their  own  information  as  for 
the  instruction  of  the  cadets.  It  is  gratifying  to 
note  that  several  of  the  number  rose  afterward  to 
high  command  and  great  distinction. 

In  these  later  days  of  the  War  College  and  the 
special  schools  for  the  staff  and  line  of  the  army, 
four  years  with  the  present  standard,  or  even  three 
years  with  a  higher  standard  for  admission,  con- 
stitute an  ample  term  for  West  Point ;  but  without 
these  post-graduate  schools,  which  did  not  exist  in 
our  time,  five  years  were  none  too  many.  At  all 
events,  I  valued  them  and  the  advantages  they 
brought  highly  at  the  time,  and  since  then  I  have 
always  thought  they  gave  us  a  broader  view  and 
a  better  preparation  for  the  military  profession  than 
we  could  possibly  have  got  in  any  other  way.  It 
is  doubtless  due  to  this  fact  that  several  of  our 
number  rose  to  high  command  by  the  time  the  con- 
flict between  the  states  was  hardly  half  over.  At 
its  outset  they  entered  the  field  with  as  much,  if  not 
more,  theoretical  knowledge  of  the  art  and  science 
of  war  than  most  of  their  seniors,  and  after  a  com- 
paratively short  experience  on  the  staff  or  with 
troops  they  were  quite  as  well  qualified  in  every 
way,  except  by  age,  for  responsibility  and  high  com- 
mand. Porter,  who  served  with  marked  distinction 
on  the  staff  of  McClellan,  Eosecrans,  and  Grant; 
Bowen,  who  served  with  W.  F.  Smith  and  Parke; 
Martin  of  the  infantry  and  the  cavalry  bureau  and 
afterward  of  the  Adjutant  General's  Department, 
and  Edson  of  the  Ordnance,  were  certainly  able  offi- 

17 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

cers  without  reference  to  age.  Merritt  was  one  of 
the  best  and  most  successful  cavalry  commanders 
on  either  side.  Whittemore,  who  served  constantly 
and  creditably  as  an  ordnance  officer,  had  but  little 
chance  for  distinction.  Randol,  Pennington,  and 
John  M.  Wilson  became  splendid  battery  command- 
ers, the  first  and  second  as  chiefs  of  artillery.  As 
if  to  illustrate  the  completeness  of  the  West  Point 
education  for  all  branches  of  the  service,  Penning- 
ton later  commanded  a  regiment  and  finally  a 
brigade  of  cavalry  under  Sheridan  with  great  suc- 
cess, while  J.  M.  Wilson  was  shortly  afterward 
transferred  to  the  engineers,  and  after  a  long  and 
honorable  career,  was  retired  for  age  as  the  chief 
of  that  distinguished  corps.  It  may  be  truthfully 
said  that  no  better  officers  ever  rose  to  the  command 
of  a  company  or  a  regiment  of  infantry,  whether 
regular  or  volunteer,  than  William  G.  Jones,  Robert 
H.  Hall,  John  N.  Andrews,  Salem  S.  Marsh,  James 
P.  Martin,  and  James  M.  Warner.  They  were  preux 
chevaliers,  as  modest  as  girls,  and  by  choice  con- 
stantly with  the  colors,  working  hard  and  "hoping 
that  they  might  find  honor  there.' '  By  skill,  cour- 
age, and  success  in  many  battles  and  campaigns  they 
added  luster  to  our  arms,  and  may  well  be  regarded 
by  those  they  have  left  behind  as  model  soldiers  and 
gentlemen  of  faultless  record.  Among  those  des- 
tined for  less  brilliant  careers  were  Kellogg,  who 
commanded  a  volunteer  cavalry  regiment  and,  be- 
coming physically  disqualified,  had  to  retire,  and 
Foster,  who  commanded  a  regiment  of  Missouri  in- 
fantry and  died  from  sickness  contracted  in  service. 
There  was  Sweet,  as  brave  as  any  knight,  who  lay 
down  his  young  life  at  Gaines'  Mill  while  leading 

18 


INTRODUCTION 

a  squadron  of  regular  cavalry  headlong  to  the  charge 
against  Stonewall  Jackson's  army  corps.  There 
were  Tardy,  the  scholar,  and  Vanderbilt,  the  athlete, 
who  fell  sick  and  died  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  war. 
They  were  preceded  by  the  frail  but  heroic  Mishler, 
who  was  killed  with  a  shout  of  defiance  on  his  lips 
while  defending  his  guns  against  a  charge  at  Val 
Verde.  There  was  Powell,  a  favorite  staff  officer 
of  McPherson,  who  served  gallantly  through  the  war 
and  died  on  the  plains  from  an  accident.  And  there 
were  Hopkins,  Bowman,  Cushing,  Lynn,  and  Jordan, 
who  served  with  the  regulars  or  on  detached  duty, 
but  for  one  reason  or  another  failed  to  win  the  fame 
they  had  dreamed  of.  Lewis,  short  and  stout,  but 
the  strongest  and  most  agile  man  of  the  class,  died 
from  sickness  in  the  field.  We  also  had  our  Smith, 
Alfred  T.,  with  a  splendid  double-bass  voice,  who 
went  through  both  the  Civil  War  and  the  war 
against  the  Filipinos,  and  after  a  long  and  conscien- 
tious life  always  with  the  colors,  retired  by  reason 
of  advanced  age  as  a  colonel. 

Then,  too,  like  all  the  other  classes  of  the  period, 
we  had  our  Southerners — hot-headed,  masterful,  in- 
tolerant fellows  who  classed  Black  Eepublicans  with 
the  abolitionists,  and  believed  in  slavery  as  a  divine 
institution.  Benjamin  Sloan,  of  South  Carolina,  was 
by  far  the  ablest  of  the  lot.  As  a  boy  it  was  said 
he  left  "F"  out  of  his  name  because  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  a  Northerner.  He  served  the  South 
through  to  the  end  and  then  became  a  respected 
college  president  in  his  native  state.  Ramseur, 
of  Huguenot  origin,  from  North  Carolina,  was 
as  handsome  and  attractive  a  young  man  as 
could    be    found.      He   came   to   be   looked  upon 

19 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

by  the  Confederate  leaders  as  almost  without 
a  peer  as  an  infantry  commander  and  early 
rose  to  the  rank  of  major  general.  He  was 
mortally  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek 
and  was  tenderly  nursed  in  his  dying  hours-  by  class- 
mates and  friends  whom  he  had  known  at  West 
Point.  Kerr,  a  man  of  intellect  and  courage,  also 
from  the  old  North  state,  died  young  without  rising 
to  distinction.  Gibbes,  of  South  Carolina,  who 
fought  Upton  unsuccessfully  as  a  cadet  because  he 
was  an  abolitionist,  fired  the  first  gun  at  Sumter 
and  saw  the  last  one  fired  at  Appomattox.  Huger, 
of  the  same  state,  with  a  long  line  of  distinguished 
ancestors,  was  far  from  being  a  disunionist,  but  he 
cast  his  lot  with  "his  people,' J  and  after  serving 
them  as  a  staff  officer  became  a  successful  railroad 
man  and  lived  beyond  three  score  years.  McCreery, 
a  brilliant  and  ambitious  Virginian,  was  killed  at 
Antietam.  He  had  provoked  me,  unfortunately  for 
himself,  into  the  only  fight  I  had  in  my  cadet  days, 
ostensibly  because  of  impatient  words  I  had  used 
toward  him  at  artillery  drill,  but  really  because  I 
was  a  Northerner,  and  he  and  his  friends  thought  a 
licking  would  do  me  good.  Gibbes  was  his  second 
and  Hall  was  mine.  The  fight  was  with  bare  fists, 
"rough  and  tumble,,  to  a  finish  without  a  break, 
according  to  the  local  rules.  It  came  off  after 
supper  within  the  hallowed  precincts  of  old  Fort 
Clinton  of  Revolutionary  memory.  It  was  short, 
sharp,  and  decisive.  But  the  hardest  case  of  all  was 
that  of  Riley,  one  of  the  handsomest,  most  engaging, 
and  most  popular  men  of  the  class.  He  was  the 
son  of  General  Bennett  Riley  of  the  regular  army, 
a    noted    hero    of    the    Mexican    War,    originally 

20 


INTRODUCTION 

from  western  New  York.  The  youngster,  on  grad- 
uating, was  sent  to  the  extreme  West,  where  he 
served  with  Earl  Van  Dorn  and  other  Southern 
officers,  and  through  some  strange  fatuity  or  some 
fatal  friendship  he  cast  his  lot  with  the  South  and 
lost  as  bravely  as  the  best  with  the  comrades  and 
the  cause  for  which  he  stood. 

The  man  who  graduated  at  the  foot  of  the  class 
was  Borland,  of  Arkansas,  the  son  of  a  senator  of 
that  name.  He  was  a  good  fellow  and  a  great 
favorite  and  had  taken  seven  years  to  master  the 
course.  By  reasoning  altogether  his  own,  although 
as  poor  as  Job's  turkey,  he  conceived  that  "his 
rights  in  the  territories ' '  might  be  withheld  by  a  Ke- 
publican  administration,  and  so  he,  too,  went  to  fight 
for  the  South.  A  life  of  obscure  employments,  fol- 
lowed by  an  old  age  of  suffering  and  penury,  are  his 
lot  among  the  people  he  served  so  faithfully. 

Last,  but  not  least,  was  the  grave  and  austere 
McFarland,  the  brightest  of  them  all,  who  graduated 
easily  head  of  the  class,  and  from  music  to  quater- 
nions never  encountered  an  art  or  a  science  he  did 
not  master.  With  the  mind  of  a  Laplace  and  the 
skill  of  a  Vauban,  he  was  fitted  for  any  place  that 
fortune  might  bring,  and  should  have  left  his  mark 
deeply  impressed  upon  the  times  in  which  he  lived. 
But  fortune  was  against  him  from  the  first,  and  his 
superb  equipment  as  a  soldier  and  scientist  was 
his  undoing.  It  brought  him  the  duty  of  construct- 
ing permanent  fortifications  and  sea-coast  defences, 
which  were  to  assist  in  making  good  the  blockade 
and  cutting  off  outside  help,  without  which  it  was 
impossible  for  the  Confederacy  to  succeed.  This 
important  but  modest  service  kept  him  generally  far 

21 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

from  the  march  of  contending  armies  and  from  the 
excitement  and  danger  of  battle,  and  thus  it  con- 
tinued, not  only  for  the  greater  part  of  the  war,  but 
until  middle  life.  He  died  from  rheumatism  of  the 
heart.  He  was  loved  and  honored  by  all,  but  his 
hopes  had  been  disappointed  and  his  "  white,  un- 
stained soldier's  plume,"  with  all  its  inspirations, 
remained  to  the  end  but  a  dream  and  a  disappoint- 
ment. 

I  have  always  felt  that  the  decade  at  the  end  of 
which  my  class  graduated  was  the  golden  age  of 
West  Point.  This  may  be  because  I  knew  it  better 
than  I  have  ever  known  it  since,  but  in  those  days 
it  was  eminently  the  place  of  "the  square  deal." 
Neither  outside  pull  nor  inside  intrigue  could  in- 
fluence the  standing  of  any  man  nor  change  the 
course  of  the  academic  board  so  much  as  a  hair's 
breadth.  The  officers  of  all  grades  were  the  selected 
men  of  the  army.  None  but  an  engineer  of  the  high- 
est rank  and  attainments  had  up  to  that  time  ever 
held  the  position  of  superintendent,  and  the  disci- 
pline was  perfect.  There  was  now  and  then  a  little 
harmless  hazing  and  occasionally  some  that  was  far 
too  rough,  but  it  was  either  judiciously  ignored  or 
firmly  and  effectively  dealt  with  by  the  superinten- 
dent without  advertising  the  matter  or  calling  on 
the  "War  Department  for  assistance.  The  fact  is 
that  such  a  call  would  have  been  considered  as  an 
evidence  of  incapacity  and  weakness  by  an  officer  of 
Colonel  Delafield's  experience  and  character. 

During  my  time  at  the  Academy  and  afterward 
till  the  first  gun  of  the  war  was  fired,  politics  ran 
high.  We  were  boys,  but,  coming  from  every  Con- 
gressional district  of  the  Union,  the  corps  of  cadets 

22 


INTRODUCTION 

was  as  much  a  representative  body  as  Congress  it- 
self. We  all  read  the  newspapers,  not  only  from 
New  York,  but  from  home  towns,  and  all  took  sides. 
I  was  a  Douglas  Democrat,  possibly  as  much  by  rea- 
son of  my  Southern  ancestry  as  because  "the  Little 
Giant"  was  from  my  state  and  because  in  debates 
with  his  opponents,  and  especially  with  Jefferson 
Davis,  he  proudly  proclaimed  that  he  would  neither 
ask  nor  grant  quarter.  My  section  of  the  state  was 
always  strongly  Democratic  and  it  was  devoted  to 
Douglas.  My  own  county,  Gallatin,  gave  Mr.  Lin- 
coln only  sixty-five  votes  for  president  and  Mr. 
Douglas  all  the  rest.  His  doctrine  of  popular 
sovereignty  seemed  to  be  not  only  plausible,  but  con- 
sistent with  the  right  of  self-government  which  lay 
at  the  base  of  the  American  system.  I  was  familiar 
with  the  Constitution  and  its  commentaries  as  taught 
in  our  course  of  law,  but  I  did  not  perceive  that  the 
District  of  Columbia  and  the  territories  were  not 
sovereignties  at  all,  but  were  under  the  absolute  con- 
trol of  Congress.  I  was  opposed  to  slavery  itself, 
but  I  realized  that  it  was  under  the  protection  of 
the  law  and  beyond  the  power  of  Congress  to  regu- 
late or  abolish  it.  I  believed  in  the  patriotism  of 
Dotiglas  and  in  his  steadfast  devotion  to  the  Union. 
It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  Lincoln's  biog- 
raphers, Nicolay  and  Hay,  often  went  out  of  their 
way  to  belittle  Douglas  in  order  to  exalt  their  great 
Chief,  and  that  this  really  served  to  depreciate  Lin- 
coln. ' '  Arts  of  the  demagogue, f9U  vicious  methods,  * ' 
" quibbling,' *  "success  above  principle,"  "plausible 
but  delusive,"  are  among  the  unkind  phrases  ap- 
plied to  Douglas  in  reviewing  the  points  of  contact 
between  these  two  really  great  men.    But  Lincoln's 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

biographers  were  not  always  unkind.  Indeed,  they 
concede  Douglas'  great  ability,  and  at  times  laud 
him  highly,  but  generally  leave  the  impression  that 
he  was  actuated  by  motives  less  lofty,  and  that  he 
moved  on  a  moral  plane  distinctly  lower  than  Lin- 
coln's. They  seem  to  have  overlooked  the  fact  that 
in  all  the  arts  of  the  mere  politician  their  wily  Chief 
had  served  a  full  apprenticeship  in  the  trade  and 
that  he  could  easily  give  Mr.  Douglas  large  odds 
and  beat  him  at  the  game.  They  pass  over  the  great 
and  inestimable  service  rendered  by  Douglas  to  the 
cause  of  the  Union  in  his  last  days  with  slight  or  in- 
adequate mention,  and  make  no  quotations  from  his 
two  masterly  and  decisive  speeches  following  his  last 
personal  conference  with  Lincoln  in  Washington 
April  14, 1861.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  of  those 
speeches  that  they  were  decisive  of  a  unified  North 
in  "the  impending  conflict,"  and  that  they  consti- 
tuted beyond  comparison  the  greatest  individual 
service  rendered  to  the  Union  by  any  public  man, 
not  even  excepting  Mr.  Lincoln's,  in  the  crucial  days 
following  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter.  In  their  far- 
reaching  results  they  have  rarely  been  equaled  and 
never  surpassed  by  any  forensic  effort  of  ancient 
or  modern  times. 

At  Springfield,  April  25,  1861,  before  a  joint  ses- 
sion of  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature,  over  which 
the  now  venerable  Shelby  M.  Cullom  presided,  Doug- 
las, in  the  greatest  speech  of  his  life,  aroused  his 
large  audience  to  a  frenzy  of  patriotic  enthusiasm 
when  at  the  height  of  his  eloquent  appeal  for  the 
Union  he  said: 

"When     hostile    armies     are    marching    under 
new  and   odious  banners   against  the   government 

24 


INTRODUCTION 

of  our  Country,  the  shortest  way  to  peace  is  the 
most  stupendous  and  unanimous  preparation  for 
war. ' ' 

Of  this  speech  Senator  Cullom  has  since  said: 
"Never  in  all  my  experience  in  public  life,  before 
or  since,  have  I  been  so  impressed  by  a  speaker.' ' 
Another  says:  "His  eloquence,  his  earnestness  and 
power  were  such  as  to  fairly  transfigure  him,"  while 
men  and  women  were  carried  off  their  feet  in  an 
hysterical  wave  of  patriotism.  Later,  at  Chicago, 
in  June,  a  few  days  before  his  death,  in  the  last 
effort  of  his  life,  arousing  the  wildest  enthusiasm 
of  a  vast  audience  and  throughout  the  whole  North, 
he  said: 

' '  There  are  only  two  sides  to  the  question.  Every 
man  must  be  for  the  United  States  or  against  it. 
There  can  be  no  neutrals  in  this  war — ONLY 
PATEIOTS  and  TRAITORS." 1 

Of  this  Horace  White  says :  • '  That  speech  hushed 
the  breath  of  treason  in  every  corner  of  the  State."  2 
And  he  might  have  added  with  equal  truthfulness 
that  it  swept  away  for  the  time  all  party  lines,  uni- 
fied the  whole  North  and  brought  to  the  unwavering 
support  of  Lincoln  and  the  Union  cause  the  millions 
of  devoted,  loyal,  and  enthusiastic  personal  and 
party  friends  of  the  Senator  they  fondly  called 
"The  Little  Giant." 

It  is  but  tardy  justice  to  call  particular  attention 
to  the  fact  that  his  manly  and  patriotic  course 
brought  Logan,  McClernand,  Ogleby,  Palmer,  Hurl- 
but,  Lawler,  and  many  other  influential  Douglas 
Democrats  from  Illinois  into  the  army  as  generals 

1  Chicago  Wigwam  Speech,  New  York  Tribune,  June  13,  1861. 
'"Life  of  Lincoln,"  Herndon  &  Weik,  Vol.  II,  pp.  126-7. 

25 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

and  colonels.  In  the  light  of  all  this  it  can  be  truly 
said  that  Douglas  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  most 
influential  characters  in  all  the  galaxy  of  American 
statesmen.  That  Lincoln  recognized  his  great  serv- 
ices is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  offered  him  the 
commission  of  major  general  of  Volunteers.  A 
month  afterward,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight,  he  was 
in  his  grave. 

Since  the  above  was  written  the  attention  of  the 
venerable  William  Jayne,  of  Springfield,  Illinois,  has 
been  called  to  the  subject.  He  was  Lincoln 's  special 
friend,  he  stood  up  with  him  at  his  wedding,  and 
was  appointed  by  him  governor  of  Dakota.  He  has 
always  been  a  staunch  Eepublican.  He  is  one  of  the 
few  surviving  close  friends  of  Lincoln,  hale  and 
hearty  at  eighty-five  years  of  age,  and  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  say :  i '  There  would  have  been  war  in  Illinois 
but  for  Douglas.  Justice  has  never  been  done  to 
his  memory.  He  was  a  very  great  man  and  a  true 
patriot. ' ' 

In  my  day  the  teaching  of  the  Academy  was  clear 
and  unequivocal  on  this  point:  that  whatever  might 
be  the  reserved  rights  of  the  state  or  of  its  citizens, 
those  who  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the 
Union  and  bound  themselves  to  faithful  service  in 
the  army  had  no  reserved  rights,  and  that  no  matter 
what  a  mere  citizen  might  think  or  do,  we  were 
solemnly  pledged  to  protect  and  defend  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  "against  all  its  enemies 
and  opposers  whatsoever."  We  were  told  that  these 
words  included  domestic  as  well  as  foreign  enemies, 
and  that  so  long  as  two  states  held  together  under 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws  enacted  in  accordance 
therewith,  it  was  the  duty  of  all  regular  officers  to 

26 


INTRODUCTION 

uphold  the  flag  and  stand  hy  the  government  of  the 
United  States. 

At  all  events,  this  was  my  platform,  and  I  am 
glad  to  say  most  of  the  Northern  men  stood  with  me 
on  it.  But  my  Southern  classmates,  almost  to  a 
man,  in  spite  of  their  oath  of  allegiance,  were 
against  it  and  believed  in  state  rights,  and  when 
the  test  came  all  went  South,  except  Martin,  of  Ken- 
tucky. He  was  but  a  boy  with  a  man's  head  on  his 
shoulders,  and  never  thereafter  in  any  official  emer- 
gency failed  in  his  duty.  We  had  plenty  of  Free- 
soilers,  and  a  few  Abolitionists,  and  when  at  leisure 
we  had  fierce  discussions  in  spite  of  ourselves.  While 
the  political  lines  were  closely  drawn,  friendly  rela- 
tions were  maintained,  but  the  closest  intimacies 
were  sectional  rather  than  national.  We  had  our 
differences  and  our  fights,  but  they,  as  well  as  the 
feelings  which  existed,  have  been  so  fully  and  so  ad- 
mirably portrayed  by  other  writers  that  nothing 
further  need  be  said  here.1 

The  representative  character  of  the  Military 
Academy,  while  obvious  enough  when  attention  is 
directed  to  it,  has  never  been  adequately  set  forth 
by  the  officers  controlling  the  institution  nor  fully 
understood  by  the  cadets  themselves.  Although  it 
is  absolutely  national  and,  properly  enough,  now- 
adays makes  known  to  its  graduates  the  paramount 
claims  of  the  nation  upon  their  allegiance  and  serv- 
ice by  commissioned  officers  of  the  army,  nothing 
whatever  is  said  as  to  their  relations  with  the  civil 
officials  and  their  people  at  home,  nor  the  advan- 
tages of  maintaining  close  connection  with  them. 

w<The  Spirit  of  Old  West  Point/ '  by  General  Morris  Schaff, 
1907. 

27 


UNDER     THE     OLD     FLAG 

As  pointed  out  in  the  case  of  my  own  class,  the 
cadets  are  drawn  from  every  rank  and  station  of 
life  absolutely  without  reference  to  "race,  color  or 
previous  condition  of  servitude. ' '  Every  man 's  son 
is  eligible  for  appointment  if  he  has  the  proper  quali- 
fications, and,  when  admitted,  every  man's  son  has 
an  equal  chance  with  every  other  man's  son.  I  shall 
not  deny  that  here  and  there  at  rare  intervals  young 
men  present  themselves  who,  by  disagreeable  or 
offensive  appearance,  manners,  or  behavior,  arouse 
the  antagonism  of  their  associates,  or  even  of  those 
in  authority  over  them.  If  they  prove  obdurate,  in- 
tractable, or  vicious,  they  are  finally  eliminated,  al- 
though they  might  possibly,  with  patient  encourage- 
ment and  assistance,  master  the  course  of  studies; 
but  I  cannot  recall  a  case  where  real  injustice  was 
done.  Human  nature  is  a  complex  adjustment  of 
contradictory  and  opposing  elements  in  which  abso- 
lute justice  can  neither  be  defined  nor  secured.  Hon- 
orable men  do  the  best  they  can  and  leave  the  con- 
sequences to  take  care  of  themselves. 

In  the  case  of  the  cadets,  the  fashioning  hands 
of  discipline,  instruction,  and  environment  begin 
their  work  at  once,  and  by  the  end  of  the  year,  as 
I  have  previously  remarked,  as  far  as  an  outsider 
can  perceive,  they  all  look  alike,  and  in  ranks  as 
much  so  as  a  row  of  pins.  But  the  training  and 
assimilation  do  not  end  there.  They  go  on  to  the 
end.  When  the  young  men  at  the  close  of  their  sec- 
ond year  go  home  on  furlough,  clad  in  a  smart  uni- 
form, they  are  received  with  pride  and  satisfaction 
by  their  family  and  friends,  and  they  are  the  envy 
of  their  old  schoolmates  and  the  admiration  of  the 
girls.    They  are  proud  and  happy  to  a  degree  that 

28 


INTRODUCTION 

no  one  who  has  not  been  through  the  experience 
can  realize.  They  find  everything  agreeable  and 
have  altogether  the  best  time  they  ever  had.  When 
they  return  to  the  Academy  and  buckle  down  again 
to  their  work  they  broaden  in  their  minds  and  in 
their  ambitions,  and  begin  to  wonder  how  they  are 
coming  out,  what  branch  of  service  they  will  enter, 
and  what  will  be  their  chance  for  glory.  The  change 
in  person,  in  bearing,  and  in  ideals  goes  on  and  they 
become  grown  men ;  they  have  mastered  the  course, 
made  their  way  to  an  assured  position,  and  are  about 
to  enter  into  the  real  race  of  life.  They  graduate, 
choose  their  corps  and  regiment,  and  go  home  again 
to  their  family  and  friends.  Of  course,  those  who 
come  from  the  higher  walks  of  life  find  a  welcome 
in  society,  and  now  and  then  one  looks  around  and 
marries  the  girl  he  loved  as  a  boy,  or  his  sister's 
friend.  But  the  great  majority  find  themselves  in 
an  environment  different  from  that  in  which  they 
grew  up.  Their  people  and  friends  may  be  just  as 
proud,  or  even  prouder,  of  them  than  when  they 
were  at  home  on  furlough,  but  the  new  graduate 
somehow  or  another  may  not  be  so  proud  of  them 
as  he  once  was.  He  has  changed,  but  the  plain 
people  have  not,  and  there  is  an  incongruity,  if  not 
an  inharmony,  that  makes  him  uneasy.  And  so 
when  his  leave  is  at  an  end  he  goes  away — it  used 
to  be  to  the  frontier,  but  now  it  is  to  the 
Philippines,  or  to  a  dull  post  on  the  sea  coast.  He 
enters  upon  his  duty  as  an  officer  and  soon  becomes 
so  much  absorbed  in  making  a  record  for  himself, 
upon  which  he  proudly  imagines  his  whole  future  is 
to  depend,  that  he  thinks  less  and  less  frequently  of 
his  boyhood  home,  family,  and  friends      Unfortu- 

29 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

nately,  even  if  otherwise  disposed,  lie  returns  but 
seldom,  and  while  he  thinks  of  them  occasionally, 
he  finally  forgets  them,  little  by  little  to  be  sure, 
but  when  his  father  and  mother  die  the  strongest 
tie  is  broken  and  he  loses  his  citizenship  at  home, 
and  becomes  a  citizen  of  the  country  at  large.  He 
has  lost  his  constituents  and  his  backing  and  now 
has  no  chance  for  assistance  in  life  except  from 
friends  he  makes  in  the  army  or  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  posts  at  which  he  has  served. 

If  he  realizes  this  at  all,  he  consoles  himself  with 
the  thought  that  he  belongs  to  the  army  which  is 
governed  by  a  higher  code  than  the  civil  callings, 
and  where  neither  favoritism  nor  chicanery  can  pre- 
vail, but  where  everything  depends  upon  the  honor- 
able record  of  service  he  builds  up  for  himself.  He 
forgets  that  in  emergencies,  or  even  in  ordinary 
times,  his  record,  of  which  he  is  so  proud  and  from 
which  he  expects  so  much,  is  filed  away  in  the  War 
Department,  and  is  the  last  thing  those  in  authority 
ever  think  of  consulting  in  regard  to  the  unknown 
and  inconspicuous  army  officer.  Indeed,  unless  there 
is  at  home  someone  sufficiently  interested  to  remem- 
ber that  he  has  a  record,  or  is  making  one,  he  is 
almost  as  completely  out  of  mind  to  those  higher 
up  as  if  he  and  his  record  were  sleeping  together 
in  the  tomb  of  Sesostris. 

I  would  not  have  it  thought  that  I  favor  "pull" 
or  personal  influence  instead  of  honorable  record, 
but  a  young  soldier,  in  the  first  instance  at  least, 
represents  his  home  district,  and  unless  he  keeps  in 
touch  with  it  through  his  congressman,  his  senator, 
his  teacher,  the  pastor,  the  judge,  or  even  the  gov- 
ernor, he  will  have  no  one  to  speak  for  him.    In 

30 


INTRODUCTION 

short,  unless  he  is  known  favorably  by  the  promi- 
nent and  influential  men  of  his  own  district,  who  are 
naturally  interested  in  him,  opportunity  may  never 
come  his  way,  no  matter  what  his  real  merit  may 
be.  And  without  opportunity  obscurity  is  sure  to 
be  his  lot.  He  should  know  that  officials  of  all  ranks 
are  so  constituted  that  when  called  upon  to  recom- 
mend a  man  for  office  or  promotion,  they  naturally 
recommend  first  him  whom  they  know  in  person,  and 
second  him  whom  they  have  heard  well  spoken  of 
and  favorably  commended  by  people  of  position  and 
influence. 

In  all  that  relates  to  this  important  subject  my 
class  had  been  no  better  instructed  than  those  that 
went  before  it,  nor  those  that  came  after  it.  It  had 
this  advantage,  however:  it  found  itself  within  less 
than  a  year  on  the  threshold  of  a  great  war,  where 
opportunity  was  looking  for  the  men,  and  honor- 
able service  was  thrust  upon  all  who  wanted  it,  so 
that  only  the  weak  and  unready  failed  to  get  it  to 
their  heart's  content. 

After  the  usual  graduating  leave  of  absence,  the 
men  of  the  class  of  1860  were  distributed  to  the 
corps  and  regiments  for  which  they  had  applied 
or  to  which  they  were  assigned,  and  were  scattered 
throughout  the  United  States.  Many  were  sent  to 
the  frontier  and  were  there  when  the  Civil  War 
broke  out.  As  I  graduated  only  sixth  in  general 
standing,  it  was  my  lot  to  be  commissioned  a  brevet 
second  lieutenant  of  Topographical  Engineers  and 
to  be  ordered  to  the  headquarters  of  the  District 
of  Washington  at  Fort  Vancouver,  on  the  Columbia 
Eiver.  My  orders  made  it  necessary  to  take  the 
longest  ocean  and  river  voyage  it  was  then  possible 

31 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

for  any  officer  to  be  sent  upon  to  a  post  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States.  It  was  before  the  days 
of  the  transcontinental  railroads,  and  the  only  feas- 
ible way  to  my  station  was  by  steamship  to  Aspin- 
wall,  thence  across  the  Isthmus  by  rail  to  Panama, 
and  again  by  steamship  to  San  Francisco  and  Port- 
land. It  was,  however,  what  I  wanted,  and  I  enjoyed 
every  day  of  the  voyage — all  the  strange  scenes  and 
experiences  through  which  it  took  me.  I  sailed  from 
New  York  late  in  September,  1860,  by  one  of  the 
Vanderbilt  steamers  then  plying  in  the  Isthmian 
route,  to  the  east  coast,  and  from  Panama  up  the 
coast  by  the  Pacific  Mail  Line.  Including  a  few 
days'  stop-over  at  San  Francisco,  it  took  about  a 
month  to  reach  my  destination. 

Under  the  policy  of  John  B.  Floyd,  then  sec- 
retary of  war,  my  first  orders  took  me  in  October, 
1860,  from  New  York  by  the  Isthmus  of  Panama 
and  San  Francisco  to  Fort  Vancouver,  on  the  Co- 
lumbia River.  The  ship's  company  contained  sev- 
eral courtesy  majors  and  colonels,  and,  although  I 
was  only  the  ninth  brevet  second  lieutenant  in  the 
corps  of  Topographical  Engineers,  they  cheerfully 
waived  their  rank  in  my  favor  and  unanimously 
gave  me  the  title  of  "the  general/ '  and  "the  gen- 
eral' '  I  remained  till  the  voyage  ended.  As  the 
Zanfrettis  of  the  Ravel  troupe  were  going  to  try 
their  fortune  at  San  Francisco  and  were  traveling 
with  us,  the  voyage  was  a  pleasant  one.  They  were 
jolly,  sociable,  good-natured  people,  male  and  fe- 
male, and  did  their  best  to  entertain  their  fellow- 
passengers.  We  crossed  the  Isthmus  by  railway, 
but  had  got  hardly  half  way  over  when  our  train 
jumped  the  track.    It  was  raining  and  very  dark, 

32 


INTRODUCTION 

and  the  scene,  which  was  ordinarily  weird  enough, 
was  made  more  so  by  a  multitude  of  monkeys,  which 
made  the  night  hideous  by  their  whining  and  chat- 
tering from  the  overhanging  tropical  forest. 

While  at  Panama  Colonel  Talcott,  the  chief  en- 
gineer, expressed  the  opinion,  based  upon  his  ex- 
tensive acquaintance  with  the  entire  Isthmus,  that 
the  route  the  railroad  occupied,  the  lowest  level 
then  known,  was  the  only  one  on  which  a  tide-level 
inter-oceanic  ship  canal  could  ever  be  built.  Talcott 
was  an  ex-army  officer  and  an  able  man,  whose  clear 
and  decided  views  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
me  at  the  time.  They  were  emphasized  more  than 
a  decade  later  by  one  Anthoine  de  Gogorza,  who  had 
traded  up  and  down  Central  America  for  many 
years.  After  careful  study  he  had  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  a  still  better  route  might  be  found  by 
an  exhaustive  survey. 

The  subject  was  always  one  of  great  interest  to 
me,  because  after  the  Civil  War,  when  I  had  re- 
turned to  duty  as  a  captain  of  engineers,  both  Gen- 
eral Grant  and  General  Humphreys,  then  chief  of 
engineers,  directed  me  to  keep  myself  constantly 
informed  on  the  subject  of  an  inter-oceanic  ship 
canal  and  its  proper  location,  with  the  intimation 
that  I  should  be  charged  with  the  further  surveys 
and  with  the  construction  when  it  should  be  author- 
ized by  Congress.  Therefore,  I  read  everything 
that  came  before  the  public  in  regard  to  the  sub- 
ject, reaching  the  conclusion  that  until  every  pos- 
sible route  had  been  surveyed  with  the  same  care 
that  had  been  bestowed  upon  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama, that  route  must  be  preferred.  As  no  further 
surveys   have  been  made,   that  conclusion   stands 

33 


UNDER    THE     OLD    FLAG 

good  to-day.  In  this  faith,  many  years  later,  while 
a  member  of  the  National  Republican  Convention, 
I  framed  the  resolution  favoring  an  inter-oceanic 
canal,  without  designating  the  route,  but  a  delegate 
from  California,  with  a  vigilance  which  could  not 
have  been  greater  if  it  had  been  paid  for,  always 
amended  my  report  by  inserting  the  Nicaragua 
route.  Finally,  at  the  instance,  I  have  always  be- 
lieved, of  Senator  Foraker,  the  resolution  was 
passed  in  such  form  as  to  leave  the  subject  indefi- 
nite, and  the  government  free  to  adopt  the  Panama 
instead  of  the  Nicaragua  route.  Thus  Colonel  Tal- 
cott  's  views  were  finally  adopted,  but  the  great  work 
was  changed  from  a  tide-level  canal  to  one  with 
locks  and  dams.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that 
even  to  this  late  day  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  this  decision.  Personally  I  have 
always  contended  that  the  canal  should  be  at  tide 
level,  without  locks  of  any  kind,  and  that  the  Gov- 
ernment cannot  afford  any  other  than  the  best  pos- 
sible construction,  no  matter  what  it  costs. 

Our  voyage  northward  was  broken  by  a  few 
hours'  stop  at  Acapulco,  and  several  days  at  San 
Francisco.  Both  were  full  of  interest  for  me,  and 
I  was  greatly  struck  by  the  importance  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, the  harbor  of  which  was  crowded  with  ship- 
ping from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Spaniards,  Mexi- 
cans, Frenchmen,  and  Chinamen  jostled  each  other 
at  every  corner,  and,  although  the  common  saying 
was  that  there  was  no  Sunday  west  of  Panama, 
order  prevailed  on  all  sides,  and  it  was  evident  that 
the  Americans  were  in  absolute  control.  The  mem- 
ory of  the  " Vigilantes ' '  was  fresh  in  everybody's 
mind,  and  with  that  memory  the  conviction  seemed 

34 


INTRODUCTION 

widespread  that  license  and  frolic  might  go  so  far, 
but  no  farther. 

I  remained  in  the  city  only  long  enough  to  get 
the  first  steamer  for  the  northern  coast.  I  neither 
knew  nor  cared  to  know  anyone  at  San  Francisco, 
and  on  the  third  morning  I  embarked  for  Portland, 
Oregon.  The  voyage  was  rough  and  kept  me  sea- 
sick till  we  had  crossed  the  Columbia  Eiver  bar. 
The  run  to  Portland  was  smooth  and  rapid.  The 
river  was  broad  and  stately,  and  the  mountain  scen- 
ery on  either  hand  the  finest  I  had  ever  seen,  but, 
finding  Portland  raw  and  unfinished,  I  tarried  only 
long  enough  to  make  connections  with  the  little 
steamer  which  took  me  in  two  hours  to  Fort  Van- 
couver, on  the  Columbia,  a  few  miles  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Willamette. 

My  first  duty  was  to  report  to  Captain  George 
Thorn  and  then  to  call  with  him  on  Colonel  George 
Wright,  the  courtly  and  courteous  district  com- 
mander. Both  were  glad  to  see  me,  and  did  what 
they  could  to  make  me  feel  that  I  was  welcome.  I 
was,  of  course,  invited  to  join  the  bachelor  officers' 
mess,  and  met  there  several  acquaintances  from 
West  Point.  My  first  business  was  to  rent  and  fur- 
nish a  little  frame  cottage  of  two  rooms,  a  few  rods 
outside  of  the  garrison.  The  first  night  I  called  on 
the  family  of  the  commanding  general.  It  was  rain- 
ing and  so  dark  that  I  found  it  difficult  to  keep  the 
path.  About  half  way  to  the  general's  I  heard  some- 
one splashing  through  the  mud  toward  me,  and  called 
out  at  once:  "Who  comes  there V  The  answer 
came  back  instantly :  ' '  Hallo !  is  that  you,  Wilson  ? ' ' 
"Yes,  Wildrick,  how  are  you!"  He  had  been  my 
cadet  first  sergeant,  and,  although  we  had  not  met 

35 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

for  three  years,  we  recognized  each  other's  voice 
instantly.  What  makes  this  somewhat  remarkable 
is  the  fact  that  neither  knew  the  other  was  within 
three  thousand  miles  of  Vancouver. 

My  chief  had  already  one  assistant,  Lieutenant 
Dixon,  when  I  reported,  and,  as  he  had  no  profes- 
sional work  for  himself  or  anyone  else,  he  was  at  a 
loss  to  find  employment  for  us.  He  naturally  told 
me  to  make  myself  comfortable,  to  get  acquainted 
with  the  ladies  and  enjoy  myself  for  a  few  days, 
all  of  which  I  proceeded  to  do.  As  there  were  only 
three  unmarried  ladies  in  the  garrison  at  the  time, 
and  none  in  the  village  of  Vancouver  nearby,  while 
there  were  fourteen  bachelors  at  the  post  and  about 
fourteen  thousand  scattered  about  through  the  ter- 
ritory, the  disparity  of  the  sexes  was  such  as  to 
seriously  limit  social  diversions.  The  three  young 
women  were,  of  course,  charming,  but  were  forced 
to  divide  their  time,  so  that  no  one  had  a  monopoly. 
They  rode  with  one,  walked  with  another,  danced 
with  a  third  and  flirted  with  all,  and  both  day  and 
night  passed  gaily  enough.  The  times  were  growing 
serious,  however.  The  presidential  election  was  at 
hand,  and  even  in  that  far-away  corner  of  the  coun- 
try that  was  the  all-absorbing  topic  of  conversation. 

While  most  of  the  officers  were  Northerners  and 
Republicans  or  Douglas  Democrats,  there  were  a 
few  Southerners  among  us,  but  no  secessionists  or 
disunionists.  There  was  no  intolerance  and  no  quar- 
reling. It  was  too  serious  for  that,  and  when  the 
news  came  that  Lincoln  had  been  elected  the  gloom 
seemed  to  deepen  and  the  fear  to  increase  that  the 
Union  would  be  disrupted.  The  Eastern  newspapers 
and  the  mails  were  a  month  on  the  road,  and  hence 

36 


INTRODUCTION 

the  suspense  weighed  heavily  on  all.  "With  the  pas- 
sage of  the  ordinance  of  secession  by  South  Caro- 
lina and  the  failure  of  the  peace  conferences,  appre- 
hension deepened  into  a  certainty  that  civil  war 
would  follow. 

The  winter  was  a  dreary  one,  varied  so  far  as 
I  was  concerned  by  only  one  visit  to  the  Dalles  of 
the  Columbia,  one  or  two  trips  to  Portland,  and 
one  to  Olympia,  the  capital  of  Washington  territory. 
All  the  duty  that  could  be  found  for  me  was  to  lo- 
cate and  mark  out  a  wagon  road  through  the  wilder- 
ness, along  the  Cowlitz  from  Columbia  River  to 
Puget  Sound.  This  gave  but  little  trouble  and  took 
less  than  a  fortnight.  The  route  was  clearly  indi- 
cated by  nature,  and,  as  it  was  familiar  to  the  fron- 
tiersmen, my  task  was  soon  completed  and  my  map 
duly  filed  at  headquarters.  Mounted  on  an  Indian 
pony,  which  cost  but  twenty  dollars,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  a  few  axemen,  I  made  my  way  through  the 
forest,  cutting  out  the  vine-maple  and  underbrush, 
and  blazing  the  road  so  that  it  could  be  easily  fol- 
lowed. It  is  now  the  route  of  a  double-track  rail- 
road used  by  three  transcontinental  lines. 

Seattle  was  then  the  site  of  a  sawmill,  and  Ta- 
coma  but  little  more.  Puget  Sound,  with  its  deep 
water  and  endless  channels,  had  no  commerce,  and 
the  country  adjacent  was  broken  here  and  there  by 
one-company  military  posts  to  overawe  the  Indians 
and  hold  the  country  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company.  No  one  then  foresaw 
its  wonderful  development.  The  entire  coast  fifty 
years  later  is  crowded  with  large  and  flourishing 
cities  and  towns,  all  of  which  received  a  great  and 
unexpected  impetus  from  the  discovery  of  gold,  cop- 

37 


UNDER     THE     OLD     FLAG 

per,  and  coal  in  Alaska.  I  frankly  confess  that 
when  I  renewed  my  acquaintance  with  the  region  of 
my  first  military  service,  and  extended  it  to  British 
Columbia,  the  Yukon  District,  and  Alaska  Terri- 
tory, I  deeply  regretted  that  our  government  had 
not  resolutely  enforced  its  claims  to  "Fifty-four 
Forty  or  Fight,  f '  and  to  a  junction  with  the  Russian 
possessions. 

Shortly  after  reaching  Fort  Vancouver  I  went 
to  Olympia,  the  capital,  to  make  tracings  of  the 
land-survey  maps  of  the  government  reservations 
in  the  territory,  and  on  the  trip  visited  Fort  Steil- 
acoom,  and  the  settlement  at  Tacoma.  With  the 
exception  of  one  court-martial,  this  was  the  most 
important  service  I  performed  during  my  stay  of 
nine  months  in  the  territory.  Any  intelligent  ser- 
geant could  have  done  it  at  an  expense  of  fifty 
dollars.  The  fact  is  that  all  the  officers  in  that 
section  had  been  banished  as  far  as  possible  from 
the  scene  of  the  coming  conflict,  and  if  each  had 
been  an  undeveloped  Napoleon  he  could  not  have 
been  more  flattered  nor  more  exasperated.  The  only 
advantage  got  from  their  service  on  the  frontier 
was  ten  cents  a  mile  travel  allowance,  both  going 
and  coming.  Personally,  it  was  a  sort  of  God-send 
to  me,  for,  after  paying  my  expenses,  the  remainder 
was  sufficient  to  pay  my  debts  and  leave  me  a  mod- 
est surplus. 

On  my  return  from  Puget  Sound  my  chief  charged 
me  with  the  care  of  three  government  chronometers, 
doing  his  best  to  impress  the  awful  consequences 
that  would  follow  if  I  failed  to  keep  them  wound. 
But,  withal,  my  heart  was  not  in  it.  The  army  had 
begun   to   disintegrate.     Dixon   of   Tennessee   and 

38 


INTRODUCTION 

Anderson  of  Georgia  had  resigned,  and  they  were 
followed  shortly  by  others  from  the  interior.  By 
the  first  of  March,  1861,  most  of  the  Southern  offi- 
cers serving  in  that  quarter  had  gone  home  or  sig- 
nified their  intention  of  doing  so.  Two  batteries 
without  guns  had  been  ordered  South  and  our  gar- 
rison had  lost  a  number  of  subalterns,  which  made 
the  duty  heavier  on  those  who  remained.  In  the 
midst  of  the  excitement  I  let  my  chronometers  run 
down,  and  although  this  made  my  chief  un- 
happy, he  passed  it  over  lightly.  I  confessed  my 
fault  and  told  him  frankly  that  I  must  find  some- 
thing more  important  to  do,  and  that,  with  his  per- 
mission, I  should  ask  for  orders  to  return  to  the 
East.  Meanwhile,  I  should  offer  my  services  to  the 
commandant  as  adjutant  of  the  post.  Fortunately, 
my  chief,  who  was  loyal  to  the  backbone,  gave  me 
both  sympathy  and  approval,  and  I  entered  at  once 
on  the  duties  of  post  adjutant,  performing  them  to 
the  best  of  my  ability  till  the  very  day  I  received 
orders  to  return  to  the  East. 

Early  in  the  spring  we  turned  out  all  the  troops 
that  could  be  mustered  and  called  in  the  citizens  to 
see  them  fully  armed  and  equipped  for  war.  On  the 
fourth  of  July  we  took  two  companies  to  Portland, 
marched  them  through  the  streets,  held  parade  on 
the  public  square,  and  passed  them  in  review  with 
the  band  playing  and  the  flag  flying,  to  the  wild  de- 
light of  the  patriotic  people.  There  was  no  doubt 
about  the  loyalty  of  that  garrison! 

Edwin  V.  Sumner  commanded  the  department 
of  the  Pacific  at  that  time,  while  his  brother-in-law, 
George  Wright,  commanded  the  District  of  Oregon. 
No  braver  or  more  loyal  officers  ever  upheld  the 

39 


UNDER    THE     OLD    FLAG 

flag,  and  with  their  approval  the  atmosphere  in  that 
region  was  resonant  with  patriotic  salutes  from  our 
field  guns  and  patriotic  music  from  our  band.  But 
there  were  no  secessionists  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try who  dared  avow  themselves.  It  was  evident  that 
the  war,  if  it  came,  would  rage  on  the  other  side  of 
the  continent,  fourteen  thousand  miles  away  by  the 
traveled  route,  and  to  that  quarter  all  patriotic  eyes 
were  turned. 

As  the  coming  storm  became  more  threatening 
my  unhappiness  and  my  anxiety  grew  apace.  I  had 
no  shadow  of  doubt  as  to  the  course  all  graduates 
ought  to  follow.  It  lay  perfectly  clear  before  me. 
My  brother,  Henry,  two  years  younger  than  I,  had 
succeeded  me  at  West  Point.  My  brother  Bluford 
had  entered  college,  and  I  was  naturally  anxious 
that  both  should  take  the  same  view  and  adopt 
the  same  course  I  had  marked  out  for  myself.  No 
mail  passed  that  did  not  carry  letters  between  us, 
as  well  as  between  me  and  other  friends.  With  each 
day  the  line  of  duty  became  clearer  and  more  cer- 
tain, and  it  is  with  pride  and  satisfaction  that  I 
record  here  that  neither  of  my  brothers  ever  hesi- 
tated for  a  moment.  Both  entered  the  army  and 
were  in  active  service  throughout  the  war.  Our 
widowed  mother,  with  a  sad  heart  and  many  tears, 
but  with  a  gentle,  patriotic,  and  Christian  resigna- 
tion, gave  her  all  to  the  country.  Others,  doubtless, 
made  greater  sacrifices  because  they  had  more  sons, 
but  she  gave  all  she  had.  Fortunately,  all  were 
spared  to  return  to  her  in  safety  at  the  end  of  the 
conflict. 

While  I  claim  no  special  merit  for  my  correspon- 
dence, except  that  it  was  patriotic  and  loyal  to  the 

40 


INTRODUCTION 

country,  with  no  suspicion  of  selfishness  or  section- 
alism, I  feel  that  it  will  bear  publication  as  an  exam- 
ple of  how  young  men  of  the  day  met  the  great 
crisis  without  assistance,  and  found  their  way  into 
the  struggle  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  Union. 

On  April  3,  1861, 1  wrote  my  brothers  as  follows : 

.  .  .  Briefly,  then,  I  am  for  the  Union,  one  and  in- 
separable, now  and  forever,  as  a  blessing  paramount  to 
all  others  known  to  the  American  people.  This  is  the  pri- 
mary principle,  the  basis  of  our  National  honor  and  pros- 
perity, and  above  all  of  our  National  strength  and  glory. 
.  .  .  It  is  a  legacy  we  are  bound  in  honor  to  transmit 
to  posterity,  as  it  was  transmitted  to  us.  We  of  this  day 
and  generation  have  no  right  to  decree  its  dissolution  or 
to  join  in  its  destruction,  for  it  concerns  not  us  alone  but 
posterity. 

The  "right  of  secession"  is  a  transparent  inconsistency, 
totally  inadmissible  and  at  variance  with  the  first  idea  of 
stable  government.  But  there  is  even  a  stronger  reason  for 
denying  its  validity.  The  Constitution  (Art.  I,  Sec.  X, 
par.  1  and  2)  specially  provides  that  "No  state  shall  enter 
into  any  treaty,  alliance  or  confederation,"  and  the  tone 
of  that  whole  instrument  is  opposed  to  the  idea  of  secession. 

"But  the  cotton  states  have  seceded."  Yes,  but  seces- 
sion is  rebellion  .  .  .  and  it  may  be  claimed,  rebellion 
is  revolution,  and  the  right  of  revolution  is  inalienable. 
Here  we  stop,  for  whoever  revolts  against  constituted  au- 
thority is  guilty  of  treason  and  must  pay  the  penalty,  if 
that  authority  is  strong  enough  to  enforce  the  law.  And, 
further,  it  is  the  duty  of  all  constituted  authority,  what- 
ever be  the  form  of  government,  to  conserve  its  powers  by 
enforcing  the  laws. 

This  right  and  duty  is  plainly  implied  in  our  Consti- 
tution (Art.  I,  Sec.  VIII,  par.  14,  and  Art.  II,  Sec.  Ill, 

41 


UNDER    THE     OLD    FLAG 

par.  1),  and,  to  my  mind,  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  what  should 
be  the  President's  course  in  the  present  emergency.  You 
may  call  it  "coercion"  if  you  please,  but  forcible  means 
must  be  resorted  to  when  all  other  means  shall  have  failed. 

If  the  Southern  states  have  been  aggrieved,  it  is  cause 
for  a  demand  of  redress,  but  it  is  no  justification  for  seces- 
sion. If  they  have  been  denied  any  right  under  the  Con- 
stitution, they  can  and  ought  to  demand  justice  at  the 
hands  of  the  general  government,  but  they  have  no  right 
therefor  to  destroy  or  dismember  that  government.  .  .  . 
I  would  withold  justice  from  no  party  and  no  state,  but 
I  most  emphatically  .  .  .  deny  the  "right"  of  any 
state  or  association  of  states  to  break  up  and  destroy  the 
American  Union.  It  must  be  maintained  peaceably  by  con- 
cession, compromise  and  kindness  if  possible  .  .  .  but 
when  all  these  fail  there  is  yet  left  the  stern  arbitrament 
of  arms,  and  the  duty  of  the  general  government  to  invoke 
it.  It  is  conceivable,  I  admit,  that  the  Constitution  might 
by  common  consent  be  so  amended  as  to  provide  for  a 
peaceable  dismemberment  of  the  Union,  but  as  the  National 
charter  now  stands,  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  has  been  legally 
elected  President,  has  no  option  as  to  the  course  he  must 
finally  pursue.  He  may  defer  action,  and,  indeed,  should 
do  so  till  all  hope  of  reconciliation  and  adjustment  is  gone. 
But  when  that  day  comes,  the  people  must  support  him 
to  the  bitter  end  in  maintaining  the  National  unity  and 
taking  care  that  the  laws  shall  be  enforced. 

As  for  me,  I  owe  all  allegiance  and  "true  faith  to  the 
United  States  of  America."  They  have  given  me  my  edu- 
cation and  I  have  solemnly  sworn  more  than  once  to  defend 
them  "against  all  their  enemies  and  opposers  whomso- 
ever." My  duty  and  that  of  every  officer  of  the  army 
is  too  plain  to  be  mistaken,  and  in  the  hour  of  danger  I 
only  hope  my  performance  of  it  may  be  as  honest  and 
fearless  as  my  conception  of  it  is  clear  and  decided.  I  am 
above  all  local  or  sectional  prejudice.  My  country  is  Amer- 
ica and  dear  as  is  my  native  state,  I  should  not  hesitate 

42 


INTRODUCTION 

to  march  to-morrow  against  even  her,  should  she  array  her- 
self against  the  Constitution  and  the  Union.     .     .     . 

Before  closing  this  letter,  I  want  to  condemn  in  the 
strongest  terms  the  lack  of  principle,  honor,  and  true 
faith  already  shown  by  many  officials  in  both  the  civil  and 
military  service.  President  Buchanan  has  countenanced 
and  retained  in  office  many  officials  who  were  openly  and 
avowedly  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union.  Secretary 
Floyd  has  not  only  retained  office  while  plotting  to  bring 
about  secession,  but  has  sent  150,000  stands  of  arms  into 
the  Gulf  States,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  arm  rebellion. 
He  has  distributed  the  regular  army  so  as  to  render  it 
almost  unavailable  for  any  purpose  requiring  celerity  of 
action.  He  has  even  granted  leave  of  absence  to  Colonel 
Hardee  of  the  cavalry  and  the  Colonel  has  accepted  it, 
for  the  purpose  of  going  to  Europe  to  purchase  arms  and 
ammunition  for  a  disaffected  state.  And,  finally,  he 
has  accepted  the  resignation  of  several  officers  who  had 
already  been  appointed  to  commands  in  the  ranks  of 
rebellion. 

Many  senators  and  representatives  have  in  open  con- 
gress declared  their  contempt  for  the  Constitution,  and  in- 
voked its  destruction.  Judges  of  the  federal  courts  have 
deserted  their  seats  and  scouted  their  oath  of  office.  Rev- 
enue officers  have  surrendered  their  cutters  to  the  mob  and 
trampled  their  country's  flag  under  foot.  Army  and  navy 
officers  have  abandoned  their  posts  and  foresworn  their 
allegiance. 

.  .  .  If  these  men  who  have  sworn  over  and  over 
again,  with  every  new  commission,  ' '  To  bear  true  faith  and 
allegiance  to  the  United  States  of  America  and  to  serve 
them  honestly  and  faithfully  against  all  their  enemies  and 
opposers  whomsoever, ' '  have  been  permitted  to  go  openly 
and  without  even  a  word  of  rebuke  into  the  ranks  of  armed 
rebellion,  may  we  not  ask  with  anger  and  resentment,  what 
has  become  of  the  noble  principles  of  our  forefathers  and 
the  fides  militum,  which  have  been  the  boast  of  all  true 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

.  .  .  soldiers  from  the  earliest  days  of  civilization  down 
to  the  present  era? 

.  .  .  How  true  and  applicable  to  our  own  times  are 
the  words  of  Count  de  las  Cases: 

.  .  .  "It  is  a  melancholy  result  of  our  modern  sys- 
tems of  education,  which  tend  so  little  to  elevate  our  minds 
that  we  cannot  conceive  either  the  merit  or  claims  of  heroic 
resolutions  and  sacrifices !  We  think  that  all  has  been  said 
and  every  act  justified,  when  dangers  to  our  private  in- 
terests are  put  forward,  little  realizing  that  the  richest 
inheritance  we  can  leave  our  children  is  an  example  of  real 
virtue  and  a  name  to  which  is  attached  a  little  true  glory. ' ' 

As  all  this  and  more  was  written  before  the  mail 
brought  the  news  that  Fort  Sumter  had  been  at- 
tacked and  had  surrendered,  I  am  content  to  point 
to  it  fifty  years  later  as  the  true  doctrine  for  officers 
of  the  army  to  stand  upon  in  all  like  emergencies. 
But,  not  satisfied  with  that,  I  wrote,  May  6,  1861, 
to  the  Adjutant  General  at  Washington  as  follows : 

I  have  the  honor  to  place  myself  at  the  disposal  of 
the  Secretary  of  War  or  the  commanding  general  for  such 
duties  with  the  line  of  the  army  or  pertaining  to  my  own 
corps  as  either  may  see  fit  to  assign  me. 

I  do  this  with  the  hope  of  being  able  to  render  some 
aid  in  resisting  rebellion,  and  for  the  reason  that  I  have 
had  no  official  duties  to  perform  since  my  arrival  in  this 
department,  and  no  hope  of  any  during  the  continuance 
of  our  internal  difficulties. 

On  the  same  day  I  wrote  Senator  Douglas,  whose 
generous  sympathy  and  support  of  President  Lin- 
coln were  still  unknown  to  me : 

The  motive  which  prompts  this  letter  will  prove,  I 
trust,  sufficient  apology  for  addressing  you. 

I  am  a  brevet  second  lieutenant  in  the  Corps  of  Topo- 

44 


INTRODUCTION 

graphical  Engineers,  U.  S.  Army,  stationed  at  this  post, 
with  no  technical  duties  to  perform  and  no  prospect  of  any 
during  the  continuance  of  our  internal  difficulties. 

This  for  a  man  of  my  age,  just  graduated  at  the  Mili- 
tary Academy,  would  be  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances an  unendurable  situation,  but  at  this  particular 
juncture  in  our  National  history  it  is  almost  insupportable. 
As  an  officer  of  the  army,  lam  bound  by  a  solemn  oath : 
1 'To  bear  true  faith  and  allegiance  to  the  United  States 
of  America  and  to  serve  them  honestly  and  faithfully 
against  all  their  enemies  and  opposers  whomsoever. ' ' 

In  these  times  of  secession  and  rebellion  the  good-will 
and  loyalty  of  every  citizen,  however  humble,  is  a  matter 
of  importance,  hence  I  depart  from  accustomed  usage.  I 
am  ready  and  willing  to  act  at  any  time,  and  in  any  por- 
tion of  the  country,  according  to  the  fullest  requirements 
of  this  obligation,  and  I  desire  through  you  to  tender  my 
services  to  the  War  Department  for  any  duty  my  educa- 
tion fits  me  for,  either  in  my  Corps  or  in  the  line  of  the 
army. 

I  believe  it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Department  to 
detail  or  furlough  regular  officers,  particularly  those  be- 
longing to  the  staff  corps,  for  the  purpose  of  serving  with 
volunteers  or  other  troops  needing  instruction.     .     .     . 

From  the  journals  that  reach  us,  I  see  that  it  has  been 
proposed  to  increase  the  regular  army  by  .  .  .  more 
mounted  troops.  Should  anything  of  this  kind  be  done, 
you  would  confer  a  great  favor  on  me  by  presenting  my 
name  as  that  of  a  suitable  person  for  a  commission  in  one 
of  the  new  regiments. 

I  feel  assured  that  such  action  on  your  part  .  .  . 
would  receive  greater  consideration,  from  the  fact  that  I 
already  hold  a  commission  in  the  army,  and  any  new  ap- 
pointment would  be  nothing  more  than  a  transfer  from 
a  position  of  idleness  to  one  of  activity. 

Should  the  additional  force  not  be  intended  as  a  per- 
manent increase  of  the  army,  I  should  prefer  being  fur- 

45 


UNDER    THE     OLD    FLAG 

loughed  from  duty  and  ordered  East,  rather  than  relin- 
quish my  present  position  entirely. 

With  the  news  of  the  President's  call  for  75,000 
militia,  the  secession  of  Virginia,  and  the  certainty 
of  civil  war,  I  also  wrote  to  John  A.  Logan,  who 
then  represented  my  home  district  in  Congress,  and 
a  few  days  later  to  my  father's  old  friend  and  fel- 
low soldier,  John  A.  McClernand,  who  had  been 
lately  the  unsuccessful  candidate  of  the  Democrats 
for  Speaker.  Both,  of  these  distinguished  citizens, 
it  will  be  remembered,  followed  the  example  of  their 
great  leader,  Senator  Douglas,  in  giving  their  ad- 
hesion to  the  government  and  in  offering  their  sup- 
port to  President  Lincoln.  Assured  of  their  per- 
sonal friendship,  I  had  no  hesitation  in  asking  for 
their  assistance  as  a  loyal  officer  to  secure  an  early 
transfer  to  the  East,  either  with  or  without  in- 
creased rank.  I  pointed  out  my  earnest  desire  to 
secure  active  service  in  support  of  the  Union  and 
called  special  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  had  gone 
into  the  Topographical  Engineers  because  I  thought 
it  offered  a  better  field  for  useful  employment  in 
times  of  peace  than  the  line,  and  I  dwelt  upon  the 
changed  condition  of  affairs  due  to  the  war  already 
begun.  In  short,  I  begged  that  I  should  not  be 
shelved  or  forgotten  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  in 
a  remote  corner  of  the  country,  when  the  Union 
was  face  to  face  with  a  great  war  and  needed  every 
loyal  man  it  could  find  to  support  it.  On  May  30 
I  wrote  through  the  Adjutant  General  directly  to 
Simon  Cameron,  the  secretary  of  war,  to  the  same 
effect,  and  to  make  sure  that  my  letter  would  not 
fail  to  reach  its  destination  I  took  the  precaution 
of  enclosing  it  to  Logan,  with  the  request  that  he 

46 


INTRODUCTION 

should  deliver  it  in  person,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that 
he  did  it.  Finally,  in  order  that  I  might  secure  the 
support  of  my  immediate  chief,  I  asked  him  to  give 
me  his  help,  and  this  he  did  in  no  uncertain  way. 
My  application,  after  receiving  his  formal  approval, 
was  forwarded  to  General  Sumner  through  district 
headquarters,  with  an  endorsement  from  Colonel 
Wright  as  follows: 

Lieutenant  Wilson  is  a  young  officer  of  great  zeal,  abil- 
ity and  devotion  to  duty,  and  I  recommend  him  specially 
for  employment  on  active  service. 

This  brought  an  immediate  reply,  dated  June  24, 
1861,  to  the  effect  that : 

There  is  at  present  no  duty  on  which  Lieutenant  Wil- 
son could  be  employed,  but  his  services  will  be  called  into 
requisition  whenever  the  occasion  exists. 

Obviously  I  could  do  nothing  more.  I  had  ap- 
pealed to  everyone  I  knew  and  there  was  nothing 
left  for  me  but  to  desert  or  to  possess  my  soul  in 
patience  and  wait.  Of  course,  I  chose  the  latter 
course,  but  not  till  July  13  was  I  made  happy  by 
orders  from  headquarters  of  the  army  directing  me 
to  proceed  forthwith  to  Washington  City  and  report 
to  the  chief  of  my  corps.  Who  procured  this  order 
I  never  knew,  but  I  do  not  doubt  I  owed  it  to  one 
of  the  three  prominent  men  whose  aid  I  had  so 
urgently  solicited.  It  brought  no  promise  nor  in- 
timation of  promotion,  but  that  made  no  difference 
to  me.  What  I  wanted  was  useful  work  and  active 
service,  and  in  order  that  that  should  not  be  delayed 
I  at  once  gave  up  my  duties  as  post  adjutant  and 
took  the  first  steamer  for  San  Francisco,  sailing 
July  17. 

47 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

Meanwhile,  I  disposed  of  my  effects  and  took 
leave  of  my  friends,  every  one  of  whom  seemed  in- 
terested in  my  future  and  wished  me  a  successful 
and  fortunate  career.  Fort  Vancouver  was  the  only 
permanent  military  post  in  which  I  ever  served, 
and  it  left  me  with  none  but  pleasant  memories  of 
the  officers  and  ladies  I  met  there.  From  the  vet- 
eran commander  to  the  lowest  lieutenant,  they  were 
a  selected  lot  of  whom  it  may  be  truthfully  said, 
"The  men  were  all  brave  and  the  women  all  fair." 
A  young  widow  and  two  unmarried  girls,  who  were 
the  life  of  the  garrison,  were  mated  in  due  course, 
and  led  happy  and  useful  lives,  but  I  have  never 
seen  any  of  them  since. 

With  Lieutenant  Michler,  also  an  officer  of  the 
Topographical  Engineers,  Mrs.  Michler,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Hodges  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department, 
I  steamed  away  from  Portland  on  the  afternoon  of 
July  17.  The  current  was  with  us  and  we  made 
rapid  progress.  We  retired  early,  but  I  had  hardly 
fallen  asleep  when  I  was  aroused  by  a  shock,  fol- 
lowed by  an  exclamation  from  my  room  mate, 
Hodges,  who  stuck  his  head  out  of  the  cabin  win- 
dow and  called  out:  "Dad  burn  my  skin,  if  there 
isn't  Coffin  Rock!"  I  answered:  "We  must  dress 
at  once,  for  if  our  ship  has  struck  Coffin  Rock, 
there  is  a  hole  in  her  bigger  than  a  barn  door,  and 
she  will  sink  in  less  than  a  half  hour." 

It  turned  out  that  we  had  run  head  on  into  that 
well-known  obstruction  and  were  filling  fast.  The 
captain  shifted  freight  and  tried  to  stop  the  leak, 
but  his  efforts  were  vain.  It  was  soon  apparent 
that  the  ship  could  not  be  kept  afloat  and  conse- 
quently the  captain  beached  her  a  few  miles  below 

48 


INTRODUCTION 

Mt,  Coffin  on  the  only  bar  that  would  hold  her. 
Even  then  her  stern  sank,  while  her  bow  and  'mid- 
ships held  to  the  shelving  beach  a  few  feet  from  the 
land.  By  daylight  we  were  all  ashore  with  our  be- 
longings. With  the  help  of  my  companions  I  got 
a  spare  sail  from  the  ship  and  soon  had  comfortable 
shelter  for  our  party  at  the  edge  of  a  wheat  field 
overlooking  the  scene.  Shortly  after  daylight  I  re- 
turned to  the  ship  and  got  a  liberal  supply  of  bread, 
boiled  ham,  cake,  pickles,  coffee,  plates,  knives,  and 
forks.  We  had  a  jolly  picnic,  and  had  arranged  to 
pass  the  night  there  when  a  rescue  boat  arrived,  and 
took  us  back  to  Portland  at  an  early  hour  the  next 
day. 

The  army  officers  returned  to  Fort  Vancouver, 
where  we  were  regarded  as  "  shipwrecked  brethren 
saved  from  a  watery  grave. '  I  We  had  a  few  pleas- 
ant days,  and  then,  with  the  prayers  of  our  friends, 
started  again  on  the  23d  by  the  steamship  Cor- 
tez,  Captain  Huntington  commanding.  Without 
further  accident  or  delay  we  were  in  San  Francisco 
at  noon  July  26.  Here  we  had  another  wait,  and 
employed  the  time  visiting  our  friends  at  Benicia 
and  the  Presidio,  where  we  were  entertained  with 
dinners  and  parties  till  we  began  the  long  voyage 
by  the  way  of  Panama  to  New  York. 

We  sailed  for  the  Isthmus  by  the  Golden  Gate, 
Captain  Pierson  commanding,  on  August  1.  Our 
party,  reinforced  at  San  Francisco  by  Major  Floyd- 
Jones,  Captains  McPherson,  Crook,  De  Hart,  Har- 
die,  Hodges,  and  B.  F.  Smith,  and  Lieutenant  Con- 
nor, all  going  home  to  take  part  in  the  war,  now 
numbered  nine,  representing  nearly  all  branches  of 
the  regular  service.    Several  of  the  number,  notably 

49 


UNDER     THE     OLD     FLAG 

McPherson  and  Crook,  were  destined  to  rise  rapidly 
to  great  distinction.  Those  less  fortunate  served 
worthily  till  death  or  peace  put  an  end  to  their 
dreams  of  glory. 

The  return  voyage  was  made  memorable  to  me 
by  the  acquaintance  and  friendship  of  McPherson, 
which  lasted  till  his  death  as  a  major  general  three 
years  later.  He  was  one  of  many  who  rose  solely 
by  his  own  merit.  Graduating  at  the  head  of  his 
class  six  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  he 
had  reached  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  only  in  the 
corps  of  engineers,  but  just  before  sailing  he  re- 
ceived notice  of  a  captaincy  in  his  own  corps  and 
of  an  appointment  as  captain  in  one  of  the  new  regi- 
ments, accompanied  by  orders  to  report  in  Wash- 
ington without  delay.  Slightly  over  six  feet  tall, 
with  a  commanding  figure,  a  Jove-like  head,  and 
flashing  dark  eyes,  he  was  as  fine  a  specimen  of 
manhood  as  any  race  could  produce.  With  a  mind 
illuminated  by  learning  and  manners  made  charming 
by  a  sunny  and  hopeful  temperament,  he  was  the 
joy  of  our  party  and  the  favorite  of  everybody  on 
the  ship.  We  walked  and  talked  together  both  day 
and  night  for  over  three  weeks,  and  he  opened  his 
soul  to  me  as  though  he  had  known  me  always. 
While  he  had  not  yet  made  up  his  mind  to  accept 
service  in  the  line,  it  was  yet  certain  by  the  time 
he  reached  Washington  that  he  would  be  a  captain 
of  engineers  and  eligible  to  the  command  of  a  com- 
pany of  l '  sappers  and  miners,  ? '  which  was  the  high- 
est command  a  captain  of  his  corps  could  attain. 
Lee  and  McClellan  had  both  served  with  the  only 
engineer  company  in  the  war  with  Mexico,  and  both 
had  gained  such  renown  there  that  they  were  by 

50 


INTRODUCTION 

common  consent  regarded  as  the  most  promising 
soldiers  of  their  day.  But  McPherson  supposed  it 
to  be  far  above  his  reach,  though  his  mind  turned 
toward  it  as  the  surest  way  to  a  glorious  career. 
I  encouraged  him  by  every  argument  I  could  bring 
to  bear  to  put  forth  all  his  influence  to  get  the  de- 
tail. He  was  as  modest  as  a  girl  and  had  no  power- 
ful friends,  but  one  night,  after  considering  the 
project  in  all  its  bearings  and  possibilities  for  the 
hundredth  time,  he  exclaimed:  "Well,  I'll  go  for 
it,  and  if  I  can  only  get  orders  to  raise  such  a  com- 
pany with  you  for  my  first  lieutenant,  I  shall  be 
satisfied  even  if  I  am  killed  in  the  first  battle ! ' ' 

That  settled  it.  When  we  arrived  in  Washing- 
ton a  few  weeks  later  we  were  both  surprised  and 
gratified  that  our  respective  chiefs,  already  super- 
annuated, were  so  well  pleased  with  our  plan  that 
they  permitted  us  practically  to  write  our  own  or- 
ders. Needless  to  add,  we  sent  ourselves  to  Boston 
— McPherson  to  raise  a  company  and  I  to  assist  a 
captain  of  my  own  corps  in  raising  another.  The 
two  corps  of  engineers  had  not  yet  been  merged, 
as  was  done  by  the  next  Congress.  Meanwhile  the 
war  grew  so  fas*  and  the  red  tape  became  so  en- 
tangled that  neither  of  us  ever  had  the  honor  of 
commanding  a  company  of  "sappers  and  miners." 
Our  ambition  in  those  days  was  a  modest  one,  but 
it  was  genuine  and  would  have  satisfied  us  com- 
pletely. 

Our  ship  touched  at  Acapulco  on  Friday,  Au- 
gust 9.  I  had  hoped  to  land  there  some  day  and 
make  my  way  through  Mexico  to  Vera  Cruz  and 
thence  to  New  York.  But  war  had  changed  all  that, 
and  even  the  most  rapid  voyage  was  far  too  slow 

51 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

for  our  impatience.  The  ship  had  hardly  dropped 
anchor  when  the  consul  brought  on  board  a  copy 
of  the  New  York  Herald  containing  an  account  of 
the  first  day's  battle  at  Bull  Kun.  Seizing  it  from 
his  hands,  by  common  consent  I  mounted  a  chair 
in  the  main  saloon,  and  read  it  aloud  to  the  as- 
sembled passengers.  Trembling  with  excitement,  I 
hurried  through  the  glorious  news.  There  had  been 
a  successful  preliminary  skirmish,  after  which  Mc- 
Dowell 's  patriotic  volunteers  had  thrown  themselves 
headlong  against  the  embattled  Confederates  and 
swept  them  from  the  field.  Victory  had  perched 
upon  the  banners  of  the  Union!  The  Constitution 
and  the  laws  had  been  vindicated!  The  Confeder- 
acy had  been  crushed  and  peace  would  be  re-estab- 
lished in  a  few  days!  There  was  no  word  about 
defeat,  no  suggestion  of  doubt  or  delay,  and  the 
exciting  news  was  received  with  rapturous  applause. 
It  satisfied  the  most  sceptical  of  us  that  the  war  was 
over  and  we  went  ashore  rejoicing  that  the  happy 
end  was  in  sight.  McPherson  and  I  got  an  excel- 
lent dinner,  laid  in  a  supply  of  fruit,  and  aired  our 
West  Point  Spanish  with  the  natives ;  but  that  night, 
when  again  under  way,  we  confessed  to  more  than 
a  shade  of  disappointment  that  the  fortunate  result 
had  been  attained  without  the  slightest  help  from  us. 
Without  anxiety  we  settled  down  for  another 
week  of  reading  and  walking,  but  as  our  good  ship 
ploughed  her  way  toward  home  I  became  greatly 
interested  in  Hodson's  services  in  the  Sepoy  Rebel- 
lion and  set  about  preparing  a  plan  for  the  organi- 
zation of  an  intelligence  corps  for  our  army  based 
on  his  experience.  After  some  study  I  concluded 
that  a  battalion  of  five  hundred  men  and  officers 

52 


INTRODUCTION 

selected  from  both  regulars  and  volunteers  with  spe- 
cial reference  to  brightness,  zeal,  discipline,  and  ac- 
tivity, divided  into  six  troops,  and  mounted  on  the 
best  horses  that  could  be  found,  would  be  sufficient 
to  start  with.  I  thought  that  each  troop  should 
have  one  captain,  two  lieutenants,  one  first  sergeant, 
five  duty  sergeants,  one  quartermaster  sergeant,  five 
corporals,  ten  first-class  privates,  and  fifty  second- 
class  privates.  The  first-class  privates  should  be 
enlisted  as  draughtsmen  and  the  officers  should  be 
all  West  Pointers,  selected  for  special  aptitude  from 
either  corps  of  engineers  and  the  line  of  the  army. 
All  vacancies  should  be  filled  by  examination  and 
selection,  and  officers  and  men  alike  should  be 
armed  with  pistols  and  swords  only.  Obviously  the 
special  function  of  this  corps  would  be  to  make 
reconnoissances,  to  discover  the  enemy's  movements, 
and  to  draw  sketches  and  maps  of  the  theater  of 
active  operations.  I  worked  out  the  details  of  or- 
ganization and  equipment,  but  when  I  reached  Wash- 
ington I  could  find  no  one  to  listen  to  me,  or  to 
recommend  that  my  proposition  should  be  carried 
into  effect.  Nothing,  therefore,  ever  came  of  it,  ex- 
cept that  when  I  took  command  of  a  division  of 
cavalry  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  in  1864,  I  de- 
tailed Captain  Boice,  one  of  my  best  officers,  together 
with  the  proper  complement  of  commissioned  and 
non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  for  a  com- 
pany, which,  so  long  as  I  remained  with  the  divi- 
sion, was  used  to  my  entire  satisfaction  in  the  way 
indicated  above.  My  division  was  never  surprised 
and  never  ran  into  an  ambush,  nor  even  into  a  tight 
place,  for  lack  of  information.  Captain  Boice  and 
his  company  were  always  perfectly  informed,  and 

53 


UNDER     THE     OLD     FLAG 

I  am  persuaded  that  such  an  organization  on  a 
larger  scale  would  have  been  not  only  entirely  suc- 
cessful, but  most  useful. 

We  arrived  at  Panama  August  15,  and  the  con- 
sul, as  before,  brought  us  the  latest  papers  from 
New  York.  Every  passenger  was  anxious  to  hear 
the  sequel,  and  I  made  haste  to  mount  a  chair  and 
read  the  news.  The  latest  details  from  Bull  Eun 
converted  the  preliminary  victory  into  a  disgraceful 
and  overwhelming  defeat.  The  enemy,  reenforced 
by  Johnston  from  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  had  not 
only  checked  McDowell's  turning  movement,  but 
had  driven  the  Union  forces  from  the  field  and 
forced  them  back  to  the  defences  of  Washington. 

It  was  only  too  certain  that  the  war  was  not  over, 
but  just  fairly  beginning.  We  crossed  the  Isthmus 
that  night  without  accident  or  delay,  and  by  eight 
o'clock  were  all  safely  on  board  the  North  Star, 
steaming  rapidly  toward  New  York. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  McPherson  and  I  no 
longer  had  any  doubt  as  to  the  course  we  should 
pursue.  We  realized  that  we  should  find  a  totally 
different  state  of  affairs  at  Washington  from  that 
which  we  had  pictured  to  ourselves  at  Acapulco,  and 
our  desires  for  a  little  true  glory  were  strangely 
at  variance  with  our  patriotism.  We  were  young 
and  ambitious,  and  while  sincerely  sorry  that  the 
Union  had  not  triumphed  over  its  enemies,  I  must 
say  we  were  all  impatient  to  get  to  the  scene  of 
action  and  to  know  where  the  fortunes  of  war  would 
land  us. 

Although  our  ship  was  a  good  one  and  the 
weather  favorable,  the  days  passed  slowly,  but 
withal  we  made  our  land-fall  early  on  August  23, 

54 


INTRODUCTION 

and  got  ashore  that  afternoon.  From  the  time  we 
were  within  sight  of  land  we  realized  that  the  coun- 
try must  have  been  thoroughly  aroused.  The  slopes 
of  Staten  Island  were  covered  with  the  white  tents 
of  the  volunteers,  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  flut- 
tering over  the  camps  and  fortifications,  and  the 
sharp  rattle  of  drums  seemed  to  fill  the  air.  It  was 
an  exciting  and  glorious  scene,  the  full  significance 
of  which  did  not  dawn  upon  us  till  we  knew  the  pa- 
triotic response  the  country  had  made  to  the  call 
of  the  President.  The  war  was  really  under  way 
both  East  and  West.  A  successful  battle  had  been 
fought  at  Wilson's  Creek.  The  brave  and  aggres- 
sive Lyon  had  laid  down  his  life,  and  everywhere 
patriots  were  rallying  to  the  defence  of  the  Union 
and  for  the  overthrow  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 


55 


THE    WAR    FOR    THE    UNION 

Report  at  Washington — Visit  McDowell's  Army— Ordered 
to  Boston — Chief  topographical  engineer  of  Port  Royal 
Expedition — An  army  corps  wasted. 

We  were  now  within  reach  of  the  War  for  the 
Union  and  McPherson  and  I  were  resolved  to  get 
into  it  without  delay.  Pausing  at  New  York  only 
long  enough  to  call  on  our  friends,  we  pushed  on 
to  Washington  the  next  morning.  There  were  no 
sleeping  cars  in  those  days,  and  unfortunately  I  fell 
violently  ill  and  was  compelled  to  leave  the  train 
at  Wilmington.  Fortunately,  I  met  Dr.  Grimshaw, 
the  best  physician  of  the  town,  at  the  station,  and, 
although  I  had  never  seen  him  before,  he  took  me  to 
the  "Indian  Queen,"  put  me  to  bed  and  cared  for 
me  tenderly  till  the  crisis  had  passed. 

As  soon  as  I  could  leave  my  bed,  I  drove  to  the 
country  residence  of  Colonel  Andrews,  the  father 
of  my  classmate  and  of  the  young  girl  who  five  years 
later  became  my  wife.  I  was  at  once  surrounded 
by  an  atmosphere  of  comfort,  sympathy,  and  pa- 
triotism. My  host,  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school, 
had  received  his  early  education  with  Meade  and 
Kearney  at  a  private  military  school  and  had  played 
soldier  with  a  company  of  Delaware  dragoons  at 

57 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

his  own  expense  for  many  years.  He  was,  besides, 
one  of  the  few  men  of  the  state  who  had  voted  for 
Fremont.  Naturally  a  Free-soiler  and  a  Kepubli- 
can,  he  had  supported  Lincoln  with  all  his  might 
and  was  one  of  the  first  to  answer  the  call  for  three 
months '  volunteers  as  lieutenant  colonel  of  the 
First  Delaware  Infantry.  When  the  regiment 
was  reorganized  and  mustered  into  the  service 
for  three  years  he  was  its  colonel.  Handsome, 
accomplished,  and  learned  in  military  history 
as  well  as  in  tactics,  he  was  one  of  the  best 
instructors  and  disciplinarians  of  the  volunteer 
army. 

Quickly  restored,  I  reached  Washington  three 
days  later  and  early  on  August  27  I  reported  at 
the  War  Department,  expecting  to  receive  orders 
at  once.  Full  of  enthusiasm  and  anxiety  and  long- 
ing for  active  service,  I  innocently  assumed  that  the 
service  was  longing  for  me.  I  supposed  that  there 
were  a  hundred  places  where  I  could  make  myself 
useful,  but  none  of  them  was  for  me.  The  chief  of 
my  corps,  a  patriotic,  loyal  gentleman,  was  super- 
annuated, and,  instead  of  having  any  definite  idea 
as  to  how  or  where  I  should  be  used,  he  seemed  to 
be  half  dazed  and  told  me  to  look  about  a  few  days 
and  make  up  my  mind  as  to  where  I  should  like 
to  serve.  It  was  both  disappointing  and  discourag- 
ing. The  enemy  was  almost  in  sight  of  the  capital 
from  the  heights  beyond  the  Potomac,  camps  and 
entrenchments  surrounded  it  on  all  sides,  volunteers 
were  pouring  in  from  the  North,  and  the  air  was 
full  of  bustle  and  excitement.  No  one  seemed  to  be 
in  charge,  however,  or  to  know  what  should  be  done 
to  organize,  discipline,  and  direct  the  forces  that 

58 


THE    WAR   FOR    THE    UNION 

were  rallying  to  the  support  of  the  Union,  "  three 
hundred  thousand  strong  V  I  found  my  classmate, 
Andrews,  who  had  arrived  a  few  weeks  ahead  of 
me,  connected  with  the  provost  guard,  in  charge  of 
a  houseful  of  Southern  women,  Confederate  sym- 
pathizers, who  were  suspected  of  acting  as  spies 
and  sending  information  to  the  Southern  leaders.' 
With  "suspicion  poisoning  his  brother's  cup,"  se- 
crecy and  mystery  in  every  movement,  doubt,  hesi- 
tation, and  uncertainty  in  every  measure,  it  was  a 
time  to  try  men's  souls  and  to  shake  the  courage  of 
the  boldest. 

With  all  Lincoln's  simplicity,  the  White  House 
lay  beyond  the  reach  of  a  second  lieutenant,  but, 
fortunately,  both  custom  and  duty  required  me  to 
call  upon  the  General-in-Chief,  the  aged  and  patriotic 
Lieutenant  General  Scott.  Although  a  Virginian,  no 
shadow  of  suspicion  had  ever  been  cast  upon  his 
loyalty.  I  found  him  still  grand  and  majestic,  but 
borne  down  by  the  weight  of  his  laurels  and  of  his 
public  services.  All  eyes  were  turned  upon  him  for 
inspiration  and  guidance,  and  he  gave  even  me  a 
sympathetic  reception.  Although  clad  yet  with  power 
and  responsibility,  he  was  the  setting  sun,  and  even 
at  that  early  day  the  sycophants  and  place-hunters 
no  longer  crowded  the  entrance  to  his  private  office. 
Shown  in  at  once,  I  found  him  seated  at  his  desk, 
clad  in  full  uniform,  a  herculean  figure  like  a  mighty 
ruin,  "whose  very  frown  terrified  the  glance  its 
magnificence  attracted."  He  was  all  courtesy  and 
benevolence.  Kising  with  difficulty,  he  extended  his 
hand  and  waved  me  graciously  to  a  seat  near  him, 
calling  me  his  dear  young  friend.  Making  haste 
to  tell  him  who  I  was  and  that  I  was  just  in  from 

59 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

the  far-away  Columbia  and  had  called  to  pay  my 
respects,  I  assured  him  of  my  loyalty,  my  desire 
for  service,  and  my  sympathy  for  him  in  the 
great  emergency  which  had  overtaken  him  and 
the  country.  Thereupon  he  spoke  in  substance 
as  follows: 

"We  have  indeed  fallen  upon  perilous  times! 
The  country  is  torn  by  treason  and  rebellion.  It 
has  no  guide  and  no  army.  I  am  old  and  feeble, 
and  the  men  I  have  depended  upon  to  help  bear  my 
burdens,  and,  if  need  be,  to  take  my  place,  have 
sent  in  their  resignations  and  are  going  over  to  the 
enemy.  Lee  has  gone,  Beauregard  has  gone,  John- 
ston has  gone,  Hardee  has  gone,  and  the  best  of 
the  younger  officers  are  following  them.  How  we 
shall  make  head  against  them,  or  how  it  will  all  end 
I  dare  not  say,  but  my  heart  is  full  of  doubt  and 
sorrow!'' 

I  confess  I  was  greatly  surprised  at  this  extraor- 
dinary outbreak  of  lamentation  to  a  junior  lieuten- 
ant of  the  army,  though  I  had  heard  that  the  aged 
chieftain  was  much  broken  and  discouraged.  View- 
ing his  tremulous  speech  as  a  permission,  if  not  an 
invitation,  to  reply,  I  broke  out : 

f  f  But  pardon  me,  General ;  all  the  best  men  have 
not  gone  and  are  not  going !  You  should  not  forget 
that  we  have  McClellan,  McDowell,  Sumner,  Eose- 
crans,  Buell,  Thomas,  Anderson,  Sherman  and 
Wright  and  many  other  gallant  officers,  both  regu- 
lars and  volunteers,  who  will  stand  by  the  old  flag 
to  the  last.  The  Northern  states,  with  all  their  re- 
sources, are  united  in  support  of  the  Union  and  the 
Constitution,  and  in  the  end,  with  you  to  guide  us, 
we  shall  not  fail!" 

60 


THE    WAR   FOR    THE    UNION 

At  this  outburst  the  old  hero's  face  brightened 
into  a  smile,  and,  stiffening  himself  proudly,  he  said : 
"I  thank  you,  my  young  friend;  that  is  the  true 
spirit  and  I  am  sure  it  will  lead  us  to  victory!  I 
know  you  will  help,  and  that  the  younger  men  will 
prove  our  main  dependence. ' ' 

Thereupon  I  took  my  leave  and  joined  the  chief- 
of-staff,  Colonel  Cullum,  in  the  outer  office  almost 
immediately.  He  also  received  me  warmly,  and, 
after  congratulating  me  on  my  long  interview,  as- 
sured me  that  I  had  made  a  favorable  impression 
upon  the  Lieutenant  General,  that  he  would  surely 
keep  his  eye  on  me,  and  that  as  an  evidence  of  his 
interest  he  wanted  me  to  go  to  West  Point  as  an  in- 
structor of  cadets. 

I  could  not  conceal  my  disappointment,  but,  for- 
tunately, this  unexpected  offer  did  not  throw  me 
off  my  guard.  It  astonished  and  disappointed  me, 
but,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  I  declared  that 
I  could  not  think  of  accepting  the  detail,  add- 
ing with  emphasis  that  if  it  were  insisted  on  I 
should  resign  from  the  regular  army  and  go  back 
to  my  native  state  and  enter  the  volunteers  without 
delay. 

I  had  not  dared  to  say  that  I  was  looking  for  em- 
ployment, but  when  this  offer  came  I  ventured  to 
suggest  that  I  might  better  be  employed  as  an 
officer  of  a  mounted  intelligence  corps,  the  or- 
ganization of  which  I  briefly  summarized.  Of 
course,  this  fell  on  dull  ears,  but  in  taking  leave 
I  was  glad  enough  to  have  the  assurance  that  I 
should  not  be  sent  to  West  Point,  and  that  I  must 
take  such  detail  as  might  reach  me  through  the  regu- 
lar channels. 

61 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

In  these  later  days  when  it  is  the  fashion  to  mag- 
nify the  virtues  of  Lee,  not  only  as  a  military  man, 
but  as  a  patriot,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  country  is 
in  danger  of  forgetting  its  immense  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  General  Scott,  who  was  fully  Lee's  equal 
as  a  soldier  and  far  greater  than  Lee  as  a  patriot. 
His  conquest  of  Mexico  was  a  performance  of  the 
first  rank  and  that  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  Lee's 
best  campaign.  Scott's  patriotism,  unlike  Lee's,  was 
neither  provincial  nor  bounded  by  state  lines,  but 
was  national  and  all-embracing.  He  gave  his  serv- 
ices at  all  times  and  all  places  to  the  whole  country, 
without  hesitation  and  without  question.  Like  Doug- 
las, his  example  was  worth  an  army  to  the  Union 
cause.  All  eyes  were,  indeed,  turned  to  the  veteran 
Brevet  Lieutenant  General  Scott,  second  of  that 
rank  in  America,  for  inspiration  and  guidance,  and 
no  one  looked  to  him  with  more  anxiety  than  Lin- 
coln, the  newly-elected  President.  Happily  both  for 
him  and  the  cause  he  upheld,  Lincoln  did  not  look 
in  vain.  The  old  soldier,  staggering  under  the 
weight  of  years,  put  behind  him  all  appeals  to  state 
pride  and,  like  an  old  and  seasoned  oak,  stood  erect 
and  unbending  amid  the  raging  storm  of  secession 
and  civil  war. 

To  one  who  appealed  to  his  pride  and  offered 
him  at  the  same  time  the  command  of  the  Virginia 
forces  he  sternly  replied : 

i '  Sir !  I  have  served  my  country  under  the  flag 
of  the  Union  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  as  long 
as  God  permits  me  to  live  I  will  defend  that  flag 
with  my  sword,  even  if  my  own  native  state  assails 
it."1 

1  "Lincoln,"  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Vol.  IV,  p.  103. 
62 


THE    WAR   FOR    THE    UNION 

To  another,  bringing  him  the  promise  of  wealth 
and  honor  if  he  would  follow  his  native  state,  he 
indignantly  said : 

"Go  no  further!  It  is  best  that  we  part  here  be- 
fore you  compel  me  to  resent  a  mortal  insult." 

Broken  in  body,  but  not  in  spirit,  and  conscious 
of  his  unfitness  for  field  duty,  it  will  be  recalled  that 
the  old  hero  had  selected  Eobert  E.  Lee  as  his  suc- 
cessor and  had  urged  his  appointment  to  the  active 
command  of  the*  army  upon  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  War.  With  no  misgivings  as  to  Lee's 
loyalty,  Lincoln  had  promoted  him  to  be  colonel  of 
his  regiment  and  Lee  had  accepted  this  promotion 
at  his  hands.  It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  understand 
Scott 's  grief  and  deep  disappointment  when  Lee  re- 
signed and  left  the  capitol  to  march  under  "new  and 
odious  banners."  Virginia  secretly  passed  the  Or- 
dinance of  Secession  on  April  17.  On  the  18th 
F.  P.  Blair,  at  Lincoln's  request  and  pursuant, 
doubtless,  to  Scott's  recommendation,  offered  the 
command  of  the  Union  forces  to  Lee.  On  April  20 
Lee  sent  his  resignation  to  Scott,  and  in  it  expressed 
his  purpose  never  again  to  draw  his  sword  except 
to  repel  invasion  from  his  native  state.  But  on 
April  22  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
Virginia  forces  and  on  the  23d  was  formally  in- 
vested at  Eichmond  with  full  authority.  He  had 
not  only  accepted  promotion  from  Lincoln,  but  had 
written  his  own  son  a  most  creditable  letter  char- 
acterizing secession  as  revolution  and  anarchy.  He 
had  listened  to  Scott  and  Blair,  if  not  in  an  approv- 
ing, at  least  in  a  wavering,  mind.  He  left  Washing- 
ton and  its  authorities  uncertain  as  to  what  his  final 
reply  would  be.     According  to  Cameron,  he  posi- 

63 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

tively  signified  his  acceptance.  According  to  Mont- 
gomery Blair,  he  did  not  refuse  but  agreed  to  take 
the  offer  under  advisement.  Both  of  these  distin- 
guished men  would  ordinarily  be  accepted  as  credible 
witnesses,  and  they  are  quoted  by  Nicolay  and  Hay 
in  support  of  the  conclusion  that  Lee's  attitude  was 
one  of  "hesitation  and  indecision. ' ' 1  It  should,  how- 
ever, be  noted  that  Lee  himself  not  only  positively 
denies  that  he  ever  intimated  his  acceptance,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  at  once  declined  the  offer.  Giving 
him  the  full  benefit  of  his  denial,  the  cold  historical 
fact  remains  that  General  Scott  believed  in  his  loy- 
alty and  trusted  him,  and  in  view  of  their  great  in- 
timacy it  is  inconceivable,  if  such  had  not  been  the 
case,  that  Scott  would  have  ever  consented  to  his 
promotion  to  colonel  or  recommended  him  as  his 
successor.  It  is  also  true  that  without  waiting  for 
the  acceptance  of  his  resignation  he  hastened  to 
accept  the  command  which  his  old  friend  had  already 
peremptorily  declined.  Moreover,  he  did  not  live 
up  to  his  declared  purpose  never  again  to  draw  his 
sword  except  to  repel  invasion.  He  entered  upon 
duty  at  Eichmond  in  face  of  Lincoln's  public  dec- 
laration that  Virginia  would  not,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, be  invaded.  To  say  the  least,  Colonel  Lee's 
action,  taking  him  upon  his  own  ground,  was  incon- 
sistent and  premature  and  left  room  for  the  worst 
possible  interpretation  of  his  patriotism  and 
motives. 

Elsewhere  I  have  frankly  given  the  strong  and 
unfavorable  impression  which  his  course  made  upon 
my  mind.  The  war  has  been  over  well-nigh  fifty 
years  and  time  has  clarified  our  vision  and  given 

^'Lincoln,"  Vol.  IV,  p.  98. 

64 


THE    WAR   FOR    THE    UNION 

us  a  better  perspective.  It  has  also  done  its  gentle 
work  of  rubbing  down  and  obscuring  the  rough 
points  of  difference,  while  it  has  softened  the  bitter- 
ness of  sectional  animosity.  I  cheerfully  recognize 
the  many  admirable  qualities  of  the  great  Confed- 
erate leader  and  yet  I  cannot  but  contrast,  as  his- 
tory will,  his  conduct  with  that  of  Lieutenant  Gen- 
eral Scott  and  with  that  of  another  great  Virginian, 
Major  General  George  H.  Thomas,  who  was  as  well 
beloved  of  his  men  under  the  endearing  title  of 
"Old  Pap  Thomas"  as  ever  "Uncle  Bob"  was  and 
who  was  his  equal  in  every  soldierly  quality  and 
lofty  Christian  virtue. 

It  is  useless  to  speculate  on  what  might  have 
been  the  result  if  Lee  had  stood  firmly  by  the  flag 
of  the  Union,  under  which  he  had  already  won  honor 
and  fame.  He  was  at  heart  neither  a  secessionist  nor 
a  disunionist.  He  had  freed  his  slaves.  He  loved  lib- 
erty. He  was  every  inch  a  soldier,  and  it  is  hardly 
too  much  to  assume  that  with  the  tremendous  re- 
sources of  the  North  at  his  command  he  might  have 
stayed,  if  not  turned,  the  tide  of  disunion  in  one  or 
two  campaigns,  and  thus  divided  with  Washington 
and  Lincoln  the  highest  honors  which  a  reunited 
and  grateful  country  could  bestow. 

The  first  free  day  after  reaching  Washington, 
McPherson  and  I  borrowed  horses  and  crossed  the 
Potomac  to  ride  the  lines,  look  at  the  troops,  and 
visit  our  friends.  We  started  early  and  were  gone 
till  night,  and,  although  we  saw  plenty  of  well-fed 
officers  and  men,  the  impression  produced  upon  us 
was  far  from  encouraging.  We  dined  with  McDow- 
ell and  his  staff  at  Arlington  House,  and  were  well 
received  by  all.    McPherson  met  many  friends  and 

65 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

I  at  least  met  no  enemies.  We  kept  both  eyes  and 
ears  open  and  took  careful  note  of  all  we  saw  and 
heard,  especially  at  headquarters.  McDowell,  still 
in  chief  command,  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
me,  but  I  regret  to  add  that  it  was  not  altogether 
favorable.  He  was  at  that  time  in  the  full  flush 
of  mature  manhood,  fully  six  feet  tall,  deep-chested, 
strong-limbed,  clear-eyed,  and  in  every  respect  a 
fine  and  impressive  soldier,  but  at  dinner  he  was 
such  a  Gargantuan  feeder  and  so  absorbed  in  the 
dishes  before  him  that  he  had  but  little  time  for 
conversation.  While  he  drank  neither  wine  nor 
spirits,  he  fairly  gobbled  the  larger  part  of  every 
dish  within  reach,  and  wound  up  with  an  entire 
watermelon,  which  he  said  was  "monstrous  fine!" 
That  he  was  in  every  way  a  true  patriot  and  an 
accomplished  soldier  there  is  no  room  to  doubt.  As 
we  rode  back  to  the  city  in  the  afternoon  McPherson 
and  I  discussed  him  freely,  and,  allowing  him  every 
professional  qualification,  we  agreed  that  no  officer 
who  was  so  great  a  gourmand  as  he  could  by  any 
chance  prove  to  be  a  great  and  successful  leader 
of  men.  After  a  career  full  of  vicissitudes  it  turned 
out  as  we  had  predicted.  Many  excuses  and  ex- 
planations have  been  given  for  his  failure.  A  for- 
mal court  of  inquiry  found  nothing  in  his  conduct 
to  condemn,  but  I  have  never  doubted  from  the  last 
day  of  August,  1861,  down  to  the  present  day  that 
McPherson  and  I  had  correctly  diagnosed  the  fatal 
defect  in  his  make-up  as  a  military  man. 

Having  learned  all  we  could  in  and  about  Wash- 
ington, we  went  the  next  morning  to  our  respective 
bureaus,  where  each  was  permitted  to  select  his  own 
assignment.    Having  concurred  in  choosing  Boston 

66 


THE    WAR   FOR    THE    UNION 

as  a  recruiting  station  for  engineer  soldiers,  we 
were  assured  that  orders  would  be  issued  accord- 
ingly. This  conclusion  was  reached  on  September 
2,  1861,  on  which  day  I  was  twenty-four  years  old, 
but  my  troubles  were  not  yet  ended.  McPherson's 
orders  came  without  delay,  and  he  proceeded  at  once 
to  his  station,  but  mine  were  held  back  under  one 
pretext  or  another  till  the  6th,  and  I  did  not  reach 
Boston  till  September  9.  Even  then  I  did  not  find 
my  commanding  officer  on  the  ground,  and  through 
an  unseemly  squabble  between  the  veteran  chiefs 
of  the  two  corps  of  engineers,  I  never  received  au- 
thority to  make  actual  enlistments.  I,  of  course, 
joined  McPherson  and  several  other  regular  officers 
already  at  that  station,  but  all  were  left  more  or  less 
to  their  own  resources  without  explicit  orders  or 
definite  duties. 

It  was  a  trying  and  discouraging  experience.  Six 
weeks  passed  in  worse  than  idleness.  On  my  own 
responsibility,  I  selected  an  excellent  man  for  first 
sergeant,  but  that  was  as  far  as  I  ever  got.  I  could 
do  nothing  further  without  authority.  Meanwhile, 
through  friends  in  Illinois  I  had  received  an  offer 
of  a  major's  commission  in  Colonel  Dickey's  cavalry 
regiment  and  had  decided  to  accept  it  if  I  could 
get  leave  of  absence,  when,  without  notice  or  inti- 
mation of  any  sort,  on  the  night  of  October  14,  I 
received  a  printed  order  through  the  House  tele- 
graph from  the  adjutant  general  to  "  repair  forth- 
with to  Annapolis,  Maryland,  and  report  to  Briga- 
dier General  Thomas  W.  Sherman  for  duty."  It 
was  an  unexpected  flash  out  of  an  overcast  sky,  and, 
rushing  into  the  room  where  my  discouraged  com- 
panions were  assembled,  I  waved  my  long  white 

67 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

message  before  them  and  bade  them  an  exultant 
good-bye.  I  was  both  the  happiest  and  most  en- 
vied man  in  Boston  that  night.  Hurriedly  pitching 
my  things  together,  I  took  the  first  train  by  the 
Stonington  line  for  New  York,  and  reached  Annap- 
olis on  the  second  morning  thereafter. 

I  found  a  great  force  gathering  there  for  an 
unknown  destination,  but  that  was  no  concern  of 
mine.  I  asked  no  questions.  Eeporting  to  the  com- 
manding general,  he  announced  me  in  orders  as  chief 
topographical  engineer  on  his  staff  and  told  me  to 
get  ready  as  soon  as  possible  with  assistants  and 
materials  for  active  service  in  the  field.  There  was 
a  full  staff  of  able  men,  among  whom  were  my 
classmates,  Tardy  of  the  Engineers  and  Porter  of 
the  Ordnance,  and  my  friend,  0  'Rorke,  who  had  just 
graduated  from  West  Point.  All  were  glad  to  see 
me  and  all  as  ignorant  as  I  was  of  the  strength  or 
the  destination  of  the  expeditionary  corps  to  which 
we  were  attached. 

General  "Tim  Sherman' '  of  artillery  fame,  at 
that  time  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers,  was 
in  command  and  his  record  was  of  the  best.  His 
habits  were  good,  his  technical  knowledge  great,  his 
experience  varied  and  extensive,  and  his  character 
above  reproach.  With  a  handsome  and  impressive 
figure,  flashing  blue  eyes,  martial  bearing,  austere 
manners,  and  a  voice  that  startled  you  like  an  elec- 
tric shock,  he  was  deservedly  regarded  as  one  of 
the  ablest,  most  self-reliant,  and  most  promising 
officers  in  the  regular  army.  A  direct  descendant 
of  Roger  Sherman,  he  was  justly  regarded  not  only 
as  possessing  all  the  virtues  of  an  illustrious  an- 
cestry, but  as  sure  to  rise  on  his  own  merits  to  the 

68 


THE    WAR   FOR    THE    UNION 

highest  rank  as  a  soldier.  Indeed,  it  was  generally 
thought  that  he  was  the  ablest  man  of  his  name,  and 
that  the  country  was  most  fortunate  in  having  him 
as  one  of  the  commanders  of  its  army.  But,  not- 
withstanding his  high  and  masterful  qualities,  he 
turned  out  to  be  a  martinet  of  violent  and  ungovern- 
able temper,  poorly  qualified  to  train  and  to  com- 
mand volunteers.  In  a  force  of  established  disci- 
pline and  organization  he  would  have  been  as  brave 
a  corps  commander  as  Ney  or  Lannes,  for  he  showed 
himself  afterward  in  the  assault  of  Port  Hudson  to 
be  as  resourceful  and  as  intrepid  as  either  of  those 
great  soldiers.  With  all  his  fine  qualities,  he  was 
too  exacting,  too  impatient,  and  too  violent  to  get  on 
with  his  troops.  His  part  in  the  management  of  the 
Port  Eoyal  expedition  was  on  the  whole  unfortu- 
nate. Although  it  was  eminently  successful  in  its 
preliminary  stages,  it  soon  became  paralyzed,  and, 
instead  of  pushing  boldly  inland  and  inflicting  irre- 
parable injury  to  the  rebel  cause,  it  simply  resulted 
in  neutralizing  an  entire  army  corps  of  good  troops, 
keeping  them  on  useless  coastwise  service  entirely 
out  of  the  theater  of  active  operations,  when  they 
should  have  been  doing  effective  work  elsewhere. 


69 


n 

PORT  ROYAL   EXPEDITION 

Sherman's  staff — Loading  steamship — Savannah  River — 
Venus  Point — Siege  of  Fort  Pulaski — General  Hunter 
— General  Benham — James '  Islands — Secession ville — 
Officers  of  staff. 

The  staff  of  the  expeditionary  corps,  composed 
of  selected  officers,  were  all  graduates  of  the  Mili- 
tary Academy.  L.  H.  Pelouze  was  the  adjutant; 
Q.  A.  Gillmore  chief  engineer,  with  Tardy  and 
0  'Borke  assistants ;  McNutt  chief  of  ordnance,  with 
Shunk  and  Porter  assistants;  John  Hamilton  chief 
of  artillery,  Saxton  chief  quartermaster,  Morgan 
chief  commissary,  and  Wilson  chief  topographical 
engineer.  The  brigade  commanders,  H.  G.  Wright, 
Isaac  I.  Stevens,  and  Egbert  L.  Viele,  were  also 
West  Pointers,  while  the  troops  were  mainly  from 
New  York  and  the  New  England  states,  and  although 
recently  called  into  service,  were  as  good  as  the 
country  could  furnish.  On  October  21  headquar- 
ters and  the  assembled  troops  sailed  from  Annapolis 
and  arrived  at  Fort  Monroe  early  next  morning, 
where  they  joined  the  naval  escort  under  Admiral 
DuPont.  Here  several  days'  delay  occurred  in  cor- 
recting the  stowage  of  the  ordnance  supplies. 
Through  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  chief  of  ordnance, 

70 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

ammunition  which  should  have  been  stored  on  top 
was  placed  at  the  bottom  and  other  freight  was 
piled  on  it.  Water,  coal,  and  rations  were  getting 
low  and  a  good  deal  of  confusion  prevailed,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  and  because  of  the  superstition 
against  sailing  on  Friday,  the  flotilla  did  not  sail 
till  the  29th.  It  was  composed  of  the  flagship 
Wabash,  with  sixteen  men-of-war  of  various 
sizes  and  description,  thirty-one  transports  carrying 
troops  and  supplies,  and  twenty-five  chartered 
schooners  carrying  coal ;  in  all,  seventy-two  vessels, 
with  about  twenty-five  thousand  soldiers  and  five 
thousand  sailors.  The  naval  vessels  and  transports 
were  formed  in  double  echelon  of  three  lines,  covered 
front,  flank,  and  rear  by  naval  vessels,  all  making 
a  most  imposing  array.  It  was  altogether  the  most 
formidable  armada  ever  sent  out  by  the  United 
States  up  to  that  time,  and  the  great  question  with 
the  staff  assembled  on  the  deck  of  the  Collins  liner, 
Atlantic,  was,  what  was  its  destination? 

Sherman  was  reticent  and  austere,  and  although 
fairly  at  sea,  none  of  us  dared  ask  him  where  we 
were  going.  He  and  Wright  were  the  only  ones 
who  knew,  though  there  was  some  talk  about  sealed 
orders  to  be  opened  on  the  second  day  out.  As  we 
had  wind  enough  off  Hatteras  on  that  day  to  disar- 
range the  lines  and  scatter  the  smaller  vessels,  sev- 
eral of  which  were  unsea worthy,  many  of  the  officers 
and  most  of  the  men  were  so  seasick  they  did  not 
care  what  port  they  were  making  for.  Savannah 
was  the  favorite  of  the  guessers,  but  to  those  who 
followed  the  course  we  were  sailing  Port  Eoyal  was 
soon  recognized  as  our  destination.  On  the  3d  there 
was  no  longer  any  doubt.    The  next  day  we  crossed 

71 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

the  bar  and  anchored,  but,  instead  of  attacking  at 
once,  two  days  were  spent  in  cautious  reconnois- 
sances,  and  it  was  not  till  10  a.  m.  of  the  7th  that  the 
fleet  sailed  into  the  harbor  and  opened  fire  on  the 
enemy's  batteries.  It  was  a  splendid  sight  as  the 
ships  steamed  slowly  up  one  side  of  the  harbor  and 
down  the  other  between  the  rebel  batteries,  deliver- 
ing first  one  broadside  and  then  the  other  till  the 
enemy's  guns  were  silenced  and  his  forts  dismantled. 
The  Confederate  flag  was  shot  away  early,  but  the 
forts  did  not  cease  firing  nor  the  garrisons  decamp 
till  about  half-past  two.  The  Stars  and  Stripes 
were  run  up  to  2.45  p.  m.,  and  the  victory  was  ours. 
Impatient  at  the  caution  and  delay,  I  was  the  first 
man  ashore  and  spent  the  afternoon  examining  the 
batteries  and  getting  the  lay  of  the  land. 

The  victory  was  an  important  one,  but  not  so 
much  for  the  trophies  it  yielded  or  the  footing  it 
gave  us  at  the  best  harbor  on  the  Southern  coast 
as  for  the  example  it  furnished  and  the  benefits 
which  were  to  follow  it  in  an  entirely  different  quar- 
ter. Up  to  that  time  it  was  considered  impracti- 
cable for  guns  on  shipboard  to  contend  successfully 
with  guns  in  shore  batteries;  but,  to  the  surprise 
of  all,  even  of  the  naval  officers  themselves,  in  the 
entire  fleet  only  eight  men  were  killed  and  twenty- 
three  wounded.  The  wooden  ships  steamed  several 
times  between  the  batteries  and  were  struck  many 
times,  but  not  one  of  them  was  disabled.  When  it 
is  remembered  that  the  guns  in  the  shore  batteries 
were  of  similar  caliber  and  construction  and  occu- 
pied emplacements  of  somewhat  greater  command 
than  those  on  shipboard,  and  that  the  action,  which 
lasted  four  hours  and  a  half,  was  at  close  range  in 

72 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

broad  daylight,  with  everything  favorable  for  ac- 
curate firing,  the  significance  of  it  all  will  be  more 
easily  understood.  All  the  circumstances  were  care- 
fully noted  and  stored  up  for  future  reference.  As 
it  turned  out,  this  experience  was  destined  to  play 
a  decisive  part  in  front  of  Vicksburg,  where  it  was 
conclusively  recounted,  justifying  the  opinion  that 
bofch  gunboats  and  transports  could  run  the  river 
batteries  without  serious  loss. 

The  Port  Royal  expedition  itself  yielded  but  little 
additional  advantage.  Instead  of  pushing  up  Broad 
River  with  his  infantry,  landing  at  Beaufort  and 
moving  against  Pocotaligo,  where  he  could  have 
seized  and  broken  the  railroad  from  Savannah  to 
Charleston  and  thus  deliver  a  vital  blow,  Sher- 
man contented  himself,  first,  with  occupying  the 
islands  and  freeing  the  negroes;  second,  with  be- 
sieging and  capturing  Fort  Pulaski  on  the  Savan- 
nah River,  and,  third,  with  making  an  abortive 
movement  against  Charleston.  All  of  this  was  use- 
ful to  the  navy  in  perfecting  the  blockade  of  the 
Southern  coast,  but  for  the  actual  work  done  one- 
third  of  the  land  forces  would  have  been  quite  suffi- 
cient, while  the  other  two-thirds  could  have  been 
sent  North  to  assist  the  army  of  the  Potomac  long 
before  it  became  really  necessary.  The  navy  had 
done  its  work  slowly  and  cautiously,  and,  on  the 
whole,  successfully,  while  the  army  did  practically 
nothing  but  sit  down  and  hold  the  sea  islands  which 
the  navy  had  captured  for  it. 

Instead  of  grasping  the  situation— pushing  vig- 
orously inland  on  a  line  presenting  no  obstacles  but 
clearly  open— Sherman  established  a  fortified  camp 
at  Hilton  Head  and  gave  his  immediate  attention  to 

73 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

the  siege  of  Fort  Pulaski,  which  he  had  already 
turned  and  isolated. 

The  preliminary  operations  leading  to  the  cap- 
ture of  that  fort  were  pushed  with  zeal,  ability,  and 
complete  success.  They  afforded  me  an  opportunity 
for  much  interesting  service,  some  of  it  entirely  out 
of  my  own  department,  but  all  most  instructive.  The 
construction  of  the  entrenched  camp  on  Hilton  Head 
and  the  conduct  of  the  siege  of  Fort  Pulaski  were, 
of  course,  under  the  immediate  charge  of  Gillmore 
and  his  assistants,  but  all  the  explorations  and  sur- 
veys both  by  land  and  water  were  conducted  by  me. 
In  order  that  I  might  get  from  island  to  island  and 
become  familiar  with  the  neighboring  sounds,  rivers, 
creeks,  and  inlets,  it  was  necessary  that  I  should 
have  a  swift  rowboat.  This  was  before  the  day  of 
steam  and  electric  launches,  and  as  our  quarter- 
master had  failed  to  bring  a  supply  of  cutters,  I 
had  to  find  one  suitable  for  my  use.  Fortunately,  I 
was  not  long  in  getting  one  from  a  plantation  nearby 
with  seats  and  rowlocks  for  ten  men.  She  was  long, 
narrow,  black,  and  beautifully  modelled,  with  a  good 
tiller  and  a  cockpit  large  enough  to  hold  my  India- 
rubber  bed  and  supplies.  Manned  by  ten  stout  sea- 
island  negroes,  all  splendid  oarsmen  and  perfectly 
at  home  anywhere  for  fifty  miles  up  and  down  the 
coast,  I  could  make  eight  or  nine  miles  an  hour  and 
on  a  spurt  could  pass  an  ordinary  steamer.  Before 
ten  days  had  passed  I  had  been  into  every  creek 
between  Pull-and-be-damned,  behind  Dawfuskie, 
through  Calibogue  Sound  and  the  back  passages  to 
North  Edisto.  In  a  few  weeks  more  I  extended  my 
operations  through  WalPs  Cut,  New  Eiver,  Tybee 
Eoads,  and  the  Savannah  Eiver  to  Ossabaw  Sound. 

74 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

What  the  coast  survey  maps  did  not  show  my  negro 
coxswain,  Sammy  Pope,  pointed  out  with  unerring 
accuracy.  My  operations  outside  of  our  lines  were 
necessarily  conducted  during  the  night,  and  with 
muffled  oars  I  moved  from  place  to  place,  threading 
the  narrow  passages  and  taking  the  short  cuts  as 
noiselessly  and  as  swiftly  as  a  phantom  boat  could 
have  done  it. 

The  first  of  the  staff  to  feel  the  effects  of  ex- 
posure were  Shunk  and  Porter.  Late  in  November 
the  latter  fell  violently  ill  and  during  his  confine- 
ment, at  the  request  of  the  commanding  general,  I 
took  over  his  duties.  They  consisted  mostly  of 
mounting,  dismounting,  moving,  and  remounting  six, 
eight,  and  ten-inch  guns  on  the  main  line  of  defences, 
and  for  a  week  they  afforded  me  a  lot  of  very  inter- 
esting work.  In  one  day  I  handled  as  many  as  four 
guns,  one  of  which  was  a  ten-inch  Columbiad,  taking 
them  from  one  emplacement  to  another.  After  this 
was  done  I  was  sent  to  dismantle  a  sea-coast  battery 
which  the  enemy  had  erected  on  South  Edisto  and 
armed  with  two  eight-inch  guns.  I  had  discovered 
it  in  one  of  my  expeditions,  and  the  day  after,  re- 
porting it  to  Sherman,  he  sent  me  with  a  company 
of  volunteer  engineers  to  dismantle  it  and  bring  in 
the  guns.  Of  course,  I  had  supplied  myself  with 
all  the  necessary  tackle-blocks,  skids,  and  lighters, 
and,  as  it  was  down-hill  work,  I  was  not  long  in 
getting  the  guns  dismounted  and  on  board  the 
lighter.  One  chassis  and  one  top  carriage  followed 
rapidly  and  another  was  satisfactorily  on  the  ways ; 
but  as  it  was  getting  late  and  I  was  afraid  night 
might  overtake  us  with  our  task  uncompleted,  I  was 
using  a  handspike  myself.     As  the  carriage  was 

75 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

passing  over  the  gunwale  of  the  boat  one  of  the 
maneuvering  bolts  caught  against  it.  Thereupon 
I  threw  my  whole  weight  on  the  handspike,  lifting 
the  carriage  clear  of  the  obstruction,  which  brought 
all  its  weight  on  the  short  end  of  the  lever  and  threw 
me  as  from  a  catapult  clear  across  the  lighter,  ten 
feet  into  the  air,  heels  over  head,  into  the  water 
as  neatly  as  if  I  had  been  diving  from  a  spring- 
board. Much  surprised,  but  uninjured,  I  rose  to  the 
surface  and  struck  out  for  the  shore.  My  volun- 
teers naturally  laughed  heartily,  but  did  not  fail  to 
give  me  their  sympathy  and  help.  Taking  hold 
with  renewed  vigor,  the  task  was  soon  finished,  and 
the  expedition  on  its  way  back  to  Hilton  Head,  to 
which  I  made  haste  with  my  swift  cutter  to  report 
my  success  to  the  commanding  general. 

Severe  as  he  was  generally,  his  face  relaxed  into 
an  approving  smile  when  I  told  him  of  my  misad- 
venture. For  the  first  time  he  invited  me  to  take 
a  drink,  but  seemed  both  surprised  and  pleased  when 
I  declined. 

Two  or  three  nights  later  he  sent  for  me, 
and  as  I  reported  at  his  tent  said  with  evident  im- 
patience : 

"Mr.  Wilson,  how  long  do  you  think  it  would 
take  you  to  load  the  steamship  Ben  Deford  with 
rations  and  supplies  for  the  garrison  at  Fernan- 
da?" 

I  replied  at  once:  "I  don't  know  exactly,  but  I 
suppose  it  will  take  me  four  or  five  hours/ ' 

Whereupon  the  General  broke  out : 

< « Why — blankety,  blank,  blank !  you  astonish  me ! 
Saxton  and  his  blankety-blank  quartermasters  say 
it  will  take  three  days." 

76 


PORT   ROYAL   EXPEDITION 

Fearing  I  might  have  made  a  mistake,  I  added : 
"But  I  must  have  all  the  men  I  can  work." 

"Oh,  that's  all  right!    You  can  have  the  whole 
blankety-blank  command !  How  many  do  you  want  ? ' ' 

Seeing  that  I  was  in  for  the  job,  I  replied : 

"Two  regiments,  one  for  two  hours  and  the  other 
for  the  rest  of  the  time." 

Thereupon  he  ordered  Pelouze  to  turn  out  the 
Eighth  Michigan  and  the  Ninth  Maine,  each  a  thou- 
sand strong,  and  instruct  their  colonels  to  report 
forthwith  to  Lieutenant  Wilson  at  the  wharf  and 
obey  all  his  orders  to  the  letter. 

I  had  never  loaded  a  steamship  in  my  life,  but, 
having  seen  a  gang  of  roustabouts  load  the  river 
steamer  Liahtuna  at  the  Shawneetown  levee,  I 
thought  I  could  swing  the  job  if  I  had  not  made  a 
terrible  mistake.  Walking  down  to  the  wharf,  I 
found  the  three  thousand  ton  steamship  lying  along- 
side, and  the  captain  impatiently  waiting  for  his 
cargo.  I  told  him  my  orders  and  asked  him  how 
fast  he  could  stow  freight.  He  replied  as  fast  as 
I  could  send  it  aboard.  \ '  All  right,  Captain !  Now 
turn  out  all  your  officers,  man  all  your  hatches,  open- 
ings and  gangways,  and  take  everything  as  it  comes, 
for  this  ship  has  got  to  be  loaded  and  go  to  sea  be- 
fore daylight !"  He  thought  it  impossible,  but  said 
he  would  do  his  best,  and  he  did. 

The  warehouse  was  within  fifty  yards,  and  at  pre- 
cisely eleven  the  freight  began  to  come  to  the  wharf 
and  to  pass  into  the  hold  of  the  ship  as  fast  as  a 
thousand  strong  men  could  move  it.  For  two  hours 
they  worked  at  the  top  of  their  speed,  and  I  never 
saw  officers  or  men  work  more  rapidly  or  more  will- 
ingly.   The  way  they  handled  boxes,  barrels,  bales, 

77 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

and  sacks  would  have  made  an  Ohio  Eiver  steam- 
boat man  happy.  At  one  o  'clock  the  relief  regiment 
took  up  the  task,  and  within  two  hours  and  a  half 
the  hold  of  the  ship  was  not  only  full,  but  her  hur- 
ricane deck  was  piled  up  with  hay  to  the  top  of  the 
metal  wind-sails.  By  four  o'clock  she  had  cast 
loose  and  was  on  her  way  to  sea.  I  had  made  good 
and,  sitting  down  on  the  top  of  a  pile  at  the  end 
of  the  wharf,  I  watched  through  the  gray  dawn  till 
she  was  hull  down,  crossing  the  bar,  headed  south, 
and  then  I  called  at  Sherman's  tent  on  the  way  to 
my  own  and  said:  "General,  the  Ben  Deford  is 
at  sea  and  the  work  of  loading  her  was  done  in  less 
than  five  hours." 

The  General  got  up  at  once,  his  austere  manner 
all  gone,  his  face  wreathed  with  smiles,  and  his  voice 
ringing  with  thanks  and  compliments.  "Come  in, 
my  boy,  come  in  and  let's  have  a  bottle  of  cham- 
pagne to  celebrate  the  occasion!"  Again  I  declined, 
for  sleep  and  not  stimulants  was  what  I  needed. 

As  soon  as  Porter  got  well  enough  for  duty  I 
was  detailed  as  the  recorder  of  a  board  for  the  ex- 
amination of  such  volunteer  officers  as  might  be  or- 
dered before  it.  The  first  was  a  colonel  from  Maine, 
who  forestalled  a  technical  examination  by  request- 
ing the  privilege  of  making  a  statement  to  the  board. 
He  was  a  large,  heavy  man,  about  sixty  years  of 
age,  manifestly  unfit  for  active  service,  which  he 
frankly  admitted.  But  he  was  a  man  of  influence 
in  his  state,  and  had  raised  and  taken  command  of 
his  regiment  as  a  patriotic  duty.  He  declared  that 
forty  years  ago  military  work  was  his  delight,  that 
he  loved  to  train  with  the  militia,  to  wear  the  uni- 
form, and  prance  about  on  horseback  to  the  sound 

78 


PORT    ROYAL   EXPEDITION 

of  martial  music;  but  actual  war  was  a  different 
thing,  for  which  he  frankly  confessed  himself  en- 
tirely unprepared.  But  this  Was  not  all.  He  added 
just  as  frankly  that  he  was  too  old  to  learn,  and 
proposed  to  send  in  his  resignation  at  once,  if  the 
board  would  suspend  proceedings  and  save  him  from 
further  humiliation  by  recommending  its  acceptance. 
Of  course,  it  granted  his  request,  and  as  there  were 
several  other  cases  of  the  same  sort,  it  disposed 
of  them  promptly  in  like  manner.  It  was  in  session 
only  three  days,  during  which  time  it  rid  the  com- 
mand of  all  the  objectionable  officers  ordered  be- 
fore it. 

After  this  duty  was  completed  I  had  a  period  of 
idleness,  lasting  nearly  all  the  month  of  December. 
Having  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  expedition 
had  spent  its  force  and  would  do  but  little  more, 
I  became  restless  and  determined  to  secure,  if  pos- 
sible, a  transfer  to  a  more  active  field  of  operations. 
I  had  private  instructions  from  my  bureau  chief  to 
keep  him  informed  of  my  employments  and  observa- 
tions, and  did  not  fail  to  do  so ;  but  in  the  midst  of 
my  discontent  I  was  sent  on  December  30  with  a 
small  force  to  occupy  Dawfuskie  Island  and  recon- 
noiter  the  rivers  and  marshes  between  the  island, 
New  Eiver,  Savannah  Eiver,  and  the  mainland.  It  is 
a  region  of  salt  marsh,  sluggish  inlets,  and  narrow, 
crooked  creeks,  which  I  explored  thoroughly.  On 
the  last  night  of  the  year  at  midnight  I  entered  the 
Savannah  Eiver  by  Wall's  Cut  and  Mud  Eiver,  three 
miles  inside  of  Fort  Pulaski,  and  made  a  careful 
examination  of  both  land  and  water  for  a  mile  or 
more,  sounded  the  channels,  and  got  exact  knowledge 
of  the  entire  region,  including  the  obstruction  of 

79 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Wall's  Cut.  With  muffled  oars  I  rowed  silently 
about,  at  times  within  sound  of  the  enemy's  patrol 
boats  and  pickets,  the  men  talking  and  shouting  in 
perfect  ignorance  of  our  presence.  It  was  an  in- 
teresting experience.  I  was  convinced  that  the  Cut 
could  be  easily  cleared  of  the  sunken  bark  and  the 
double  row  of  piles  across  it,  that  New  and  Mud 
rivers  could  be  used  by  our  lighter  gunboats  to  reach 
the  Savannah  behind  Fort  Pulaski,  and  that  a  bat- 
tery could  be  erected  on  Venus  Point  to  command 
the  river  within  its  range. 

"With  the  complete  information  I  had  gathered, 
I  hurried  to  headquarters,  walking  the  entire  length 
of  Hilton  Head  Island,  nearly  fourteen  miles  of  dry 
sand,  in  four  hours  and  a  quarter.  On  the  way 
back  I  carefully  considered  all  the  facts  I  had 
gathered  and  in  presenting  them  to  General  Sher- 
man I  recommended  an  immediate  move  on  Savan- 
nah by  the  route  I  had  explored,  expressing  the  opin- 
ion that  four  gunboats  and  a  small  brigade  of  in- 
fantry could  easily  take  the  place.  Sherman  was 
favorably  impressed,  but  as  the  movement  would 
require  the  cooperation  of  the  navy,  the  most  he 
could  do  was  to  send  me  back  to  superintend  the 
removal  of  the  obstructions  and  to  show  the  navy 
the  practicability  of  the  route  into  the  Savannah. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Beard  of  the  Forty-eighth 
New  York  was  told  off  to  assist  me,  and,  although 
he  was  a  most  vigorous  officer,  two  weeks  passed 
before  he  cleared  the  passage.  All  approaches  were 
by  water,  and  all  the  work  had  to  be  done  on  boats 
or  on  the  marsh,  and  it  was  not  only  slow  but  trying. 
The  regiment  had  already  gained  a  good  deal  of 
notoriety  from  the  fact  that  most  of  its  officers  were 

80 


PORT   ROYAL   EXPEDITION 

Methodist  ministers  and  class  leaders,  but  this  job 
overtaxed  their  piety.  Beard,  who  was  six  feet  tall, 
brawny,  vigorous,  and  "bearded  like  a  pard,"  was 
the  first  to  fall  from  grace.  In  the  midst  of  his  work, 
while  standing  on  a  bit  of  corduroy,  where  the  mud 
was  particularly  soft  and  deep  and  his  men  particu- 
larly slow,  he  was  cursing  louder  and  more  volu- 
minously than  any  pirate.  In  the  midst  of  it  all, 
Viele,  his  brigade  commander,  stepped  up  and,  lay- 
ing his  hand  on  the  colonel 's  shoulder,  said:  "Look 
here,  Beard,  are  you  a  preacher,  too?"  Somewhat 
abashed  at  this  unexpected  question  and  gentle  re- 
minder, he  replied:  "Well,  no,  general,  I  can't  say 
I'ma  regularly  ordained  minister.  I  am  one  of  your 
blankety-blank  local  preachers,  that's  the  sort  of 
preacher  I  am." 

The  answer  brought  a  smile  to  Viele  's  handsome 
face,  but  seemed  satisfactory  as  he  passed  on,  while 
Beard,  with  a  temporary  lull  in  the  violent  language, 
renewed  his  efforts  to  finish  the  task.  I  regret  to 
add  that  he  soon  fell  again  into  the  use  of  language 
which,  however  irreverent,  did  not  fail  to  convince 
his  men  that  he  was  in  dead  earnest. 

During  the  delay  in  the  completion  of  this  work 
I  made  a  reconnoissance  up  New  River  and  across 
Hog  Marsh  to  a  point  opposite  the  lower  part  of 
Savannah.  I  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  Badeau, 
afterward  captain,  lieutenant  colonel,  and  brevet 
brigadier  general  of  Grant's  staff,  at  that  time  a 
reporter  for  the  New  York  Express,  He  was  a  mod- 
est, slender,  and  delicate  man  of  agreeable  manners 
and  high  intelligence,  and  deservedly  became  a  prime 
favorite  with  the  staff.  As  he  was  always  anxious 
to  see  things  for  himself,  he  was  frequently  my  com- 

81 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

panion.  Beside  him  I  had  a  corporal  and  four  men 
as  a  guard.  We  had  six  or  seven  miles  to  row,  and 
about  three  miles  to  wade  through  the  marsh.  Start- 
ing early,  we  reached  the  landing-place  by  sunrise, 
and,  leaving  our  boat  and  crew  concealed  in  a  run 
by  high  reeds  and  guarded  by  two  men,  we  made  our 
toilsome  way  through  the  marsh  to  a  point  near 
fast  land,  from  which  we  could  see  everything  going 
on  at  the  city  water  front.  The  rebel  engineers  were 
driving  a  row  of  piles  across  the  river  and  seemed 
very  busy  with  preparations  to  stand  off  the  Yan- 
kees. Having  spent  several  hours  of  observation, 
we  ate  our  luncheon  and  started  back,  but  flood  tide 
was  now  on,  the  low  places  and  the  runlets  were 
full  of  water,  and  the  walking  through  the  high  reeds 
was  most  difficult.  It  was  easy  enough  to  keep  the 
direction  by  a  pocket  compass,  but  before  we  had 
covered  half  the  distance  to  the  boat,  Badeau  be- 
came so  completely  exhausted  that  he  could  not  even 
swing  his  legs  to  the  front  as  we  broke  our  way, 
carrying  him  bodily  through  the  reeds.  We  had 
neither  whisky  nor  brandy,  and  although  it  was 
midwinter  we  soon  drank  all  the  water  in  our  can- 
teens. It  was  exhausting  work,  tiresome  to  the  cor- 
poral and  myself,  but  killing  to  Badeau,  who  soon 
cried  piteously  for  water  and  even  for  a  morsel  of 
tobacco,  which  none  of  us  could  furnish.  As  the  tide 
rose  the  runlets  became  deeper  and  wider,  and  yet 
we  crossed  them  at  first  easily  enough;  but  before 
we  reached  the  boat  we  were  compelled  more  than 
once  to  swim  a  few  strokes.  Badeau  begged  us  to 
leave  him  and  save  ourselves,  but  that  was  not  to 
be  thought  of.  With  shoulders  under  his  arms,  we 
carried  him  in  as  far  as  we  could  wade.     Then  in 

82 


PORT   ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

deep  water  the  corporal,  after  getting  a  footing  in 
a  shallow  place  beyond,  would  grab  our  exhausted 
companion  as  I  pushed  him  across.  In  this  way  we 
reached  the  boat  by  the  middle  of  the  afternoon 
and  within  an  hour  more  my  stalwart  crew  landed 
us  safely  at  Viele's  headquarters  on  Dawfuskie 
Island.  After  getting  something  to  eat,  I  rowed  to 
the  end  of  the  island,  where  my  orderly  and  horse 
were  waiting,  and  that  night  I  reached  headquarters 
with  my  information  and  a  new  recommendation  for 
a  dash  at  Savannah. 

As  before,  it  was  necessary  for  the  navy  to  co- 
operate. Sherman  had  no  control,  and  hence  I  was 
sent  back  to  Tybee  to  show  the  navy  that  iny  route 
was  practicable.  I  arrived  there  with  my  cutter 
and  crew  January  17,  and,  after  nightfall,  accom- 
panied by  Captain  John  Rodgers  and  Lieutenant 
Barnes  of  the  navy,  I  took  them  across  the  sound, 
steering  by  compass  to  the  mouth  of  New  River. 
As  we  approached  the  entrance  we  heard  breakers 
through  the  darkness,  at  which  my  naval  friends 
silently  dropped  their  pistols,  unbuckled  their  belts, 
kicked  off  their  shoes,  and  stood  up  to  throw  off 
their  coats,  when  I  asked:  "What's,  the  matter V* 
They  replied:  "Breakers  ahead — this  boat  will  be 
swamped  and  we  shall  have  to  swim  for  it ! ' ' 

Whereupon  I  turned  to  my  negro  coxswain  and 
said:     "Do  you  know  this  place ?"    He  replied  at 
once:    "Just  like  de  palm  of  my  hand." 
"Can  you  take  her  through ?" 
"Just  as  easy  as  falling  off  of  a  log." 
"Take  the  tiller  then  and  order  the  men  to  give 
way. ' ! 

"Ay,  ay,  sir,"  and  in  a  dozen  strokes  the  boat 

83 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

had  leapt  through  the  breakers,  and  was  in  water 
as  smooth  as  a  mill-pond.  As  it  was  my  job  thence- 
forward, my  coxswain  remained  at  the  tiller,  and 
before  daylight  we  passed  New  Eiver,  Wall's  Cut, 
Wright  and  Mud  Rivers,  into  the  Savannah,  with  a 
complete  line  of  soundings  which  showed  the  route 
entirely  practicable  for  the  light  gunboats  and  trans- 
ports. Both  officers  concurred  in  the  report,  but 
Captain  Rodgers  finally  declined  to  recommend  the 
route  for  an  expedition  against  Savannah,  and  hence 
after  a  week's  additional  delay  the  scheme  was 
abandoned. 

This  plan  was  succeeded  by  a  determination  to 
isolate  Fort  Pulaski  and  then  batter  down  its  walls 
at  our  leisure.  The  first  step  to  that  end  was  the 
erection  of  a  battery  of  siege  guns  on  Venus  Point 
to  command  the  river  behind  and  above  the  fort, 
and,  as  that  point  is  several  miles  from  fast  land 
and  can  be  reached  by  water  only,  the  undertaking 
was  regarded  by  many  as  impracticable.  I  had, 
however,  reported  in  favor  of  it,  and  to  show  that 
I  was  not  mistaken  I  volunteered  to  take  the  two 
leading  guns  across  the  marsh  and  put  them  in  po- 
sition. My  offer  was  accepted  and  on  the  night  of 
February  10  I  showed  conclusively  that  I  was 
right.  Landing  in  the  marsh  eight  hundred  yards 
by  the  shortest  road  from  the  point,  I  carried  my 
guns  forward  on  a  series  of  short,  movable  runways 
made  of  heavy  pine  plank,  two  and  a  half  inches 
thick,  fourteen  inches  wide,  and  twenty-five  feet  long. 
With  three  sets  of  runways  held  in  position  by  cross 
pieces,  I  carried  the  guns  forward,  plank  by  plank. 
As  rapidly  as  the  rear  length  was  cleared  it  was 
moved  around  to  the  front,  and  thus  the  distance 

84 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

was  slowly  but  safely  covered.  A  wheel  occasionally 
slipped  off  and  sank  to  the  axle  in  the  mud,  but  by 
the  use  of  blocks  and  handspikes  it  was  soon  lifted 
out  and  replaced  on  the  runway.  It  was  a  work  of 
incredible  difficulty,  which  those  who  have  ever  tried 
to  cross  a  salt  marsh  will  understand;  but,  never- 
theless, I  got  my  guns  safely  across  and  in  posi- 
tion on  the  platform  of  the  sandbag  battery  erected 
by  the  engineers  by  half-past  two  in  the  morning. 
Porter  and  Beard  followed  closely,  each  with  two 
guns,  and  by  sunrise  we  had  six  guns  with  a  proper 
supply  of  ammunition  ready  to  sweep  the  river  ef- 
fectively. As  no  enemy  was  yet  in  sight,  the  guns 
and  epaulements  were  covered  with  reeds  during  the 
day,  but  the  next  morning,  as  Commodore  Tatnall ' 
and  his  Mosquito  Fleet  were  coming  down  the  river 
toward  Pulaski,  we  held  our  fire  till  they  got  within 
close  range,  when  we  opened  on  them  with  our  eight- 
inch  guns,  and  not  only  halted  them  at  once,  but  sent 
them  scurrying  back  to  the  city.  A  corduroy  road 
was  laid  to  the  battery  and  maintained,  thus  com- 
pletely cutting  off  all  communication  by  the  Savan- 
nah till  Pulaski  itself  was  compelled  to  surrender. 
Our  operations  were  now  transferred  to  Tybee 
Island  as  the  base  of  a  regular  siege  against  Fort 
Pulaski,  and  I  was  sent  to  continue  my  explorations 
of  *he  adjacent  islands  and  waterways  to  the  main- 
land. In  an  expedition  with  the  Eighth  Michigan 
as  an  escort, we  pushed  our'  way  across  Whitmarsh 
Island  to  Thunderbolt  Inlet,  close  to  the  cemetery  on 

1  It  was  this  officer  who  made  himself  famous  a  few  years  before 
by  saying,  " Blood  is  thicker  than  water,"  and  going  to  the  rescue 
of  the  English  sailors  who  were  struggling  in  the  water  on  the  Taku 
Bar,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Peiho,  China. 

85 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

the  mainland  near  Savannah.  After  completing  my 
sketches,  we  withdrew  to  our  transport,  but  while 
calling  in  our  rear  guard  we  were  fiercely  attacked 
by  a  battalion  of  rebels  that  had  followed  us  up 
closely.  A  sharp  and  bloody  fight  ensued,  in  which 
the  adjutant  of  the  regiment  was  shot  through  the 
head  while  standing  so  close  that  his  blood  and 
brains  bespattered  my  face.  We  were  in  an  open 
space  surrounded  by  a  hedge  which  the  enemy  had 
closed  in  upon,  but,  hastily  deploying  the  reinforce- 
ments which  came  at  once  to  our  assistance,  we 
turned  the  hedge  and,  taking  the  enemy  in  flank, 
drove  him  rapidly  back  a  mile  or  more,  and  then 
withdrew  and  reembarked  at  our  leisure.  This  was 
the  first  infantry  fight  I  ever  saw  or  participated  in. 
I  was  struck  by  a  musket  ball,  but,  fortunately,  my 
boot  top  turned  the  bullet  aside,  without  leaving 
anything  more  than  a  severe  bruise  to  remember 
it  by.  While  the  affair  cost  us  quite  a  number  of 
men,  killed  and  wounded,  it  made  a  deep  impression 
on  my  mind  because  of  the  great  bravery  and  cool- 
ness displayed  by  the  Michigan  men  and  officers. 

A  few  days  later,  while  rowing  through  one  of 
the  creeks  back  of  Tybee,  I  ran  into  a  small  boat  and 
two  men  carrying  mail  to  the  fort,  and,  although  I 
had  neither  arms  nor  armed  men,  I  put  on  a  bold 
face  and  confidently  called  out:  "Halt,  toss  your 
oars,  and  surrender,  or  I'll  open  on  you!"  Much 
to  my  relief,  they  promptly  complied,  and  as  they 
came  alongside  I  discovered  that  both  had  rifles. 
Their  mail  proved  to  be  interesting,  for  it  contained 
newspapers  giving  an  account  of  the  capture  of 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  by  the  combined  opera- 
tions of  Foote  and  Grant. 

86 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

Shortly  before  commencing  the  siege  of  Pulaski, 
Sherman  appointed  Captain  Gillmore  a  brigadier 
general  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Washington 
authorities,  and  directed  Captain  Hamilton,  chief  of 
artillery,  to  report  to  him;  but  Hamilton  peremp- 
torily declined  on  the  legal  ground  that  he  was  Gill- 
more  's  senior  in  actual  rank,  and  that  nobody  but 
the  President  could  ask  or  compel  him  to  waive  his 
rights  and  take  orders  from  his  junior.  Hamilton 
was  an  officer  of  regular  artillery,  a  man  of  parts 
and  of  acknowledged  ability,  and,  what  was  more, 
he  was  perfectly  sure  of  his  ground.  Sherman  rec- 
ognized his  position,  explained  the  necessity  for 
more  officers  of  rank,  and  asked  Hamilton  what  he 
should  do.  The  latter,  after  admitting  all  that  the 
general  said,  coolly  added:  "I  see  no  way  out  of 
the  difficulty  except  for  you  to  appoint  me  a  major 
general  and  direct  Gillmore  to  report  to  me.  You 
have  the  same  authority  for  that  course  as  for  what 
you  have  already  done  for  Gillmore."  The  staff 
generally  sympathized  with  Hamilton.  Both  he  and 
Gillmore  were  able  men  and  both  served  with  dis- 
tinction till  the  end  of  the  war.  Gillmore  was  not 
only  confirmed  as  a  brigadier,  but  became  a  major 
general  and  a  corps  commander,  but  Hamilton  got 
no  volunteer  rank  whatever. 

Long  before  the  impasse  was  dissolved,  Sher- 
man was  relieved  and  sent  to  report  to  Halleck 
on  the  Tennessee  Eiver,  while  Major  General 
David  Hunter,  accompanied  by  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral Benham,  assumed  command  of  the  expedition- 
ary corps.  They  were  both  regulars  of  age  and  dis- 
tinction, but  neither  was  in  any  way  an  improve- 
ment on  Sherman.    Gillmore  was  left  free  to  com- 

87 


%  UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

plete  his  batteries  along  the  northeast  side  of  Tybee, 
and  after  they  were  armed  with  heavy  guns  and 
mortars  they  opened  fire  on  the  fort  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  away.  Having  volunteered  my 
services,  I  was  directed  to  supervise  the  batteries 
at  Goat's  Point. 

General  Hunter  and  staff  arrived  April  7,  1862, 
and  at  half-past  five  on  the  9th  I  was  sent  with  a 
four-oared  boat  under  flag  of  truce  to  demand  the 
surrender  of  the  fort. 

I  had  hardly  taken  my  seat  in  the  stern  when 
General  Benham,  who  outranked  Gillmore,  called  out 
in  a  loud  voice: 

1 '  Take  your  seat  in  the  bow  of  the  boat,  Captain 
Wilson." 

As  I  was  only  a  lieutenant,  I  did  not  move. 

"Take  your  seat  in  the  bow  of  the  boat,  Major 
Wilson,"  came  with  greater  emphasis. 

Still  I  did  not  move. 

"Take  your  seat  in  the  bow  of  the  boat,  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Wilson !" 

Eealizing  finally  that  these  orders  were  intended 
for  me,  I  replied : 

"All  right,  General,  but  you  have  my  title  all 
wrong.    I  am  only  a  lieutenant. ! ' 

"Never  mind,  sir,  you  shall  have  them  all  in 
due  time.  Meanwhile  take  your  position  in  the  bow 
of  the  boat  so  you  can  see  better  when  you  approach 
the  island.' ' 

And  this  I  did,  though  the  precaution  was  an  un- 
necessary one. 

I  was  politely  received  by  an  officer,  also  under  a 
flag  of  truce,  who  took  my  communication  to  the  post 
commandant,  returning  shortly  with  a  sealed  reply, 

88 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

declining  to  surrender.  Of  course,  I  learned  nothiDg 
of  value,  for  I  was  not  permitted  to  pass  the  land- 
ing stage. 

These  formalities  took  an  hour  or  more  and  then 
the  reply  had  to  be  considered  and  communicated 
to  Gillmore,  with  orders  to  reopen  fire.  In  turn  he 
had  to  send  fo*rmal  instructions  to  the  battery  com- 
manders, which  he  entrusted  to  Badeau,  who  was 
now  a  captain  and  additional  aid-de-camp.  This 
was  his  first  important  duty  and  the  great  event  of 
his  life.  Near-sighted,  wearing  spectacles,  entirely 
unused  to  horses,  and  so  awkward  that  he  hardly 
knew  how  to  buckle  a  trunk  strap,  he  mounted  a 
mile  or  so  in  the  rear  and  galloped  to  the  batteries. 
Porter's  were  the  first  he  reached.  Porter  was 
standing  by  the  side  of  a  thirteen-inch  mortar  with 
everything  ready  when  Badeau  appeared^  Jumping 
or  half  falling  from  his  horse,  he  threw  his  reins 
over  a  pile  of  shells  a  few  feet  away  and,  rushing 
forward,  called  out :  • '  Commence  firing ! ' '  His  or- 
der was  instantly  obeyed.  The  explosion  shook  the 
earth  like  a  volcano.  The  shell  rose  gracefully  like 
a  black  moon  on  its  course,  followed  by  a  series  of 
discharges  from  the  other  mortars,  Columbiads,  and 
breaching  guns,  and  pandemonium  seemed  to  have 
broken  loose.  Badeau 's  horse,  frightened  almost  to 
death,  broke  madly  away  without  attracting  the 
slightest  attention.  Tradition  has  it  that  when  last 
seen  he  was  disappearing  in  the  neighboring  marsh, 
from  which  he  never  returned. 

All  through  that  day,  the  next,  and  the  day  after 
that  till  two  o'clock  the  awful  bombardment  con- 
tinued. The  enemy  replied  bravely,  but  his  fire  was 
wild  and  did  but  little  harm.    By  ten  o'clock  of  the 

89 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

third  day  a  breach  was  opened  in  the  thick  gran- 
ite wall  of  the  fort  and  by  noon  another  showed 
itself.  Meanwhile,  mortar  shells  were  falling  in  the 
terreplein  of  the  work,  and  at  2  p.  m.  Friday,  April 
11,  the  anniversary  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  enemy 
struck  his  flag  and  orders  went  forth  at  once  to 
cease  firing.  A  practicable  breach  had  been  opened 
and  the  fort  had  become  untenable  after  only  seven- 
teen hours  of  constant  firing. 

I  was  again  detailed  to  accompany  the  party  sent 
to  arrange  the  terms  of  the  surrender.  The  job 
was  found  to  be  a  complete  one,  and  as  the  fort  was 
so  horribly  battered  and  so  completely  isolated  that 
no  one  could  escape,  the  surrender  was  made  with- 
out terms  or  conditions. 

This  success  gave  us  complete  control  of  the  river 
to  within  close  range  of  Savannah,  but  it  was  fol- 
lowed by  no  important  results.  We  lost  no  men  and 
the  enemy  but  few  besides  the  prisoners. 

Looking  backward,  it  was  a  far  less  important 
and  dangerous  operation  than  we  had  thought  it 
before  we  opened  lire.  The  night  our  arrangements 
were  all  completed  Porter  and  I  slept  but  little.  The 
positions  assigned  us  were  supposed  to  be  quite 
as  dangerous  as  any  in  the  line  of  batteries.  We 
naturally  thought  that  one  or  both  might  be  killed, 
and  therefore  made  our  wills,  in  which  each  agreed 
to  act  as  executor  to  the  other. 

For  the  first  hour  after  our  guns  opened  we  were 
somewhat  nervous,  but  in  watching  the  effects  of  our 
own  shots  we  could  plainly  see  those  of  the  enemy 
coming  toward  us.  It  was  the  day  of  ten-inch  smooth 
bore  guns  and  low  velocities,  so  that  as  soon  as  we 
saw  the  flash  of  the  enemy's  gun  we  caught  sight 

90 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

of  the  shot  or  shell  coming  our  way  and  marked 
not  only  its  flight,  but  guessed  within  a  few  feet 
where  it  would  strike,  whether  it  fell  short  or  passed 
overhead.  Fortunately  our  parapets  and  bomb- 
proofs  were  strong  and  gave  us  perfect  protection. 
It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  the  enemy's 
practice  was  poor,  and  by  the  second  day  we  had 
got  so  used  to  it  that  we  did  not  hesitate  to  sit  on 
a  parapet  or  traverse,  watching  the  shells  coming 
toward  us,  till  they  got  within  a  few  rods,  when 
we  would  jump  down  and  take  cover,  or  sit  fast 
and  allow  them  to  pass  over  our  heads. 

After  the  surrender,  instead  of  pushing  into  the 
interior  with  all  our  force  by  the  Savannah  or  Broad 
Eiver,  one  brigade  under  General  Stevens  made  an 
ineffectual  demonstration  from  Beaufort  toward 
Pocotaligo,  and  then  a  dead  calm  fell  upon  the  com- 
mand. Many  officers  were  granted  leave  of  absence. 
General  Benham  claimed  to  be  "straining  at  the 
leash'  \  to  get  at  the  enemy,  while  Hunter  was  abol- 
ishing slavery  by  proclamation ;  but  so  far  as  I  could 
see,  an  effective  campaign  from  our  base  was  just 
as  far  from  realization  under  Hunter  as  under  Sher- 
man. These  two  generals  were  equally  brave,  equally 
patriotic,  and  equally  incompetent.  They  were 
lacking  in  aggressiveness  and  initiative,  and,  fully 
realizing  that  the  occupation  of  the  sea  islands  was 
an  abortive  and  wasteful  use  of  the  troops,  I  went 
to  Hunter  and  frankly  asked  to  be  relieved  and  or- 
dered to  report  to  my  chief  at  Washington  for  duty 
elsewhere.  The  general  received  me  with  both  sym- 
pathy and  kindness,  but  gave  me  no  assurance  of 
granting  my  request.  He  was  a  fine,  gallant,  and 
manly  old  fellow,  but  for  the  time  he  was  more 

91 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

interested  in  abolishing  slavery  than  in  putting 
down  the  rebellion.  His  adjutant,  Charles  G.  Hal- 
pine,  was  a  brilliant  Irish  newspaper  man,  who 
gained  an  evanescent  distinction  as  Miles  O'Reilly. 
He  was  a  most  agreeable,  sympathetic  fellow  who 
wasted  a  good  deal  of  time  after  the  war  in  trying  to 
get  me  interested  in  the  Fenian  movement  to  free 
his  native  land.  Both  he  and  Hunter  advised  me  to 
be  patient,  and  intimated  rather  mysteriously  that 
they  would  give  me  enough  to  do  before  the  summer 
was  over. 

I  knew  that  they  were  calling  on  Washington  for 
reinforcements  and  it  did  not  take  much  guessing 
to  hit  on  the  fact  that  they  had  a  movement  against 
Charleston  in  their  minds.  But  the  development  of 
their  plans  was  too  slow  for  me.  Before  the  summer 
was  over,  we  heard  of  the  bloody  battle  of  Shiloh 
and  Halleck's  great  movement  on  Corinth.  We 
knew  also  of  McClellan's  campaign  against  Rich- 
mond, and  hence  my  anxiety  to  get  away  was  con- 
stantly on  the  increase ;  but  as  Hunter  gave  me  only 
vague  promises,  I  pulled  every  string  I  could  touch, 
and  even  applied  to  the  adjutant  general  of  the 
army,  who  returned  my  letter  to  be  forwarded 
through  the  official  channels. 

Meanwhile,  on  June  2,  Hunter  and  staff,  with 
Wright's  and  Stevens'  brigades,  made  a  descent  on 
Stono  and  James  Island,  near  Charleston;  but  the 
movement  was  so  badly  combined  and  so  languidly 
executed  that  it  proved  an  ignominious  failure.  A 
few  unimportant  skirmishes  and  unsuccessful  as- 
saults on  the  rebel  lines  at  Secessionville  ended  the 
movement  in  disgrace.  Drunkenness  on  the  part  of 
the  leading  officers  was  openly  charged.     Benham 

92 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

was  arrested  for  disobedience  of  orders,  relieved 
from  command,  and  ordered  North. 

I  had  charge  of  a  war  balloon  in  this  expedition 
and  made  several  ascents,  but  as  soon  as  the  anchor 
rope  became  taut,  the  basket  danced  about  so  that 
I  could  see  nothing  distinctly.  After  due  considera- 
tion I  concluded  that  captive  balloons  were  worth- 
less for  reconnoissance,  and  that  neither  expense 
nor  time  should  be  wasted  in  trying  to  utilize  them. 
This  is  my  opinion  to  the  present  day.  Dirigible 
balloons  and  aeroplanes  have  become  practicable 
and  they  can  be  efficiently  used. 

On  my  return  to  Hilton  Head  I  dismounted  and 
brought  in  more  guns,  and  when  that  task  was  fin- 
ished, I  was  detailed  as  the  judge  advocate  of  a  gen- 
eral court-martial  to  try  one  of  our  colonels.  The 
charges  against  him  were  shameless  and  promiscu- 
ous lying,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  specifica- 
tions. Having  reduced  these  to  ten  or  eleven,  we 
tried  and  found  him  guilty  on  all  the  counts  and 
sentenced  him  to  dismissal;  but  the  reviewing  au- 
thority disapproved  the  proceedings  and  sentence 
and  restored  the  officer  to  duty  on  the  ground  that 
the  multiplicity  of  the  counts  looked  like  persecu- 
tion. This  officer  served  till  the  end  of  the  war  and 
was  finally  breveted  brigadier  general  for  the  part 
played  by  him  in  what  came  to  be  designated  long 
afterward  as  "the  bloody  battle  of  March  13,  1866," 
but  it  should  be  noted  that  he  always  had  "the  mis- 
fortune of  being  widely  disbelieved. ' ' 

The  same  court  tried  the  quartermaster  and  com- 
missary of  a  cavalry  regiment  for  sanding  the  sugar, 
adulterating  the  pepper,  making  away  with  the  for- 
age, selling  rations,  and  falsifying  his  returns  and 

93 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

accounts.  He  was  convicted  and,  having  no  friends 
willing  to  plead  for  him,  he  was  dismissed  from 
the  army.  It  was  the  only  case  of  the  kind  I  ever 
had  anything  to  do  with. 

Thus  June  and  July,  1862,  passed  slowly.  Hun- 
ter had  become  greatly  depressed  by  his  failure,  and 
in  midsummer,  when  the  weather  was  the  hottest 
and  the  outlook  most  discouraging,  the  news  came 
of  McClellan's  defeat  on  the  Peninsula,  accompa- 
nied by  orders  to  send  ten  thousand  of  our  troops 
to  reenforce  him. 

Meanwhile,  I  was  detailed  as  acting  assistant  in- 
spector general  of  the  command  and  directed  to 
draw  up  a  plan  for  rearranging  the  system  of  out- 
posts and  pickets,  and  a  plan  for  breaking  the  rail- 
road between  Pocotaligo  and  Coosahatchie.  This 
work  kept  me  employed  in  a  way,  but  with  more  than 
half  our  force  and  many  of  our  officers  absent,  the 
prospect  was  far  from  encouraging.  It  was  now 
more  than  ever  evident  that  the  occupation  of  the 
sea  islands  was  a  wasteful  mistake  which  could  not 
be  repaired,  and  my  anxiety  became  greater  and 
greater.  I  had  done  my  best  to  get  away  and  was 
not  without  hope  that  accumulating  disasters  to  our 
armies  farther  north,  if  neither  my  prayers  nor  the 
solicitations  of  my  friends,  would  bring  me  the  nec- 
essary orders  for  a  change  of  station.  Finally, 
August  26,  I  was  made  happy  by  orders  from  the 
war  department  directing  me  to  report  forthwith  at 
Washington. 

Thus  ended  the  first  year  of  my  "active  serv- 
ice. ' f  Although  I  had  been  at  the  head  of  my  branch 
of  service  on  the  staff,  had  served  in  the  Ordnance, 
Quartermaster's,  and  Inspector  General's  Depart- 

94 


PORT    ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

ments,  had  helped  the  artillery,  and  had  acted  as 
judge  advocate  and  also  as  the  recorder  of  an  exam- 
ining board,  I  was  far  from  satisfied.  I  had  gained 
experience  and  confidence,  but  I  was  far  from 
pleased  with  my  work.  I  had  done  my  best  to  en- 
courage my  commanding  officers  and  to  embolden 
them  to  push  forward  against  the  enemy,  and  while 
I  had  failed,  it  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  I  had  not 
made  myself  a  nuisance  nor  lost  their  friendship. 
On  the  contrary,  Sherman  evidently  thought  I  could 
do  things,  and  when  he  was  ordered  west  he  requested 
that  I  be  allowed  to  accompany  him.  While  his 
request  was  denied,  he  wrote  me  frequently  after- 
ward, and  we  remained  close  friends  till  his  death. 

Hunter's  good  will  was  quite  as  unmistakable, 
for  when  he  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  Tenth 
Army  Corps,  he  had  me  appointed  assistant  inspec- 
tor general  of  that  corps,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
colonel,  and  although  I  was  then  serving  as  an  en- 
gineer officer  on  the  staff  of  General  Grant  in  the 
Department  of  the  Tennessee,  I  was  ordered  to  re- 
port to  Hunter  as  soon  as  I  could  be  spared. 

In  addition  to  the  substantial  promotion  from 
lieutenant  to  lieutenant  colonel,  which  came  in 
time  to  give  me  the  choice  of  remaining  on  the 
staff  of  General  Grant  as  inspector  general  of 
his  army  with  the  same  rank,  my  first  campaign  and 
my  first  year  of  active  service  in  the  field  brought 
me  the  glory  of  repeated  honorable  mention  in  the 
reports  of  all  of  the  general  officers  of  the  expedi- 
tionary corps,  with  whom  I  came  in  contact.  Gen- 
eral Hunter  in  his  official  report,  after  mentioning 
General  Gillmore  for  his  industry,  skill,  and  patriotic 
zeal,  was  pleased  to  say  of  me:    " Great  credit  is 

95 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

due  to  his  assistants,  Lieutenant  J.  H.  Wilson,  U. 
S.  Topographical  Engineer,  and  Lieutenant  Horace 
Porter  of  the  Ordnance  Department. ' '  Generals 
Benham,  Viele,  and  Gillmore  in  their  several  reports 
also  spoke  of  me  and  my  services  in  kindly  and  com- 
plimentary terms. *  So  that  while  the  expedition 
itself  fell  far  short  of  its  possibilities,  it  was  for  me 
an  opportunity  which  "led  on  to  fortune." 

I  add  with  unalloyed  pleasure  that  the  year  was 
blessed  by  friendships  with  both  army  and  navy 
men  that  lasted  throughout  life.  Young  as  I  was, 
I  established  close  relations  with  Admiral  DuPont, 
one  of  the  most  courtly  and  distinguished  officers 
of  his  time,  with  John  and  Raymond  Rodgers,  Per- 
cival  Drayton,  Daniel  Ammen,  Napoleon  Collins, 
John  S.  Barnes,  and  many  of  their  juniors.  Barnes 
was  a  peculiarly  masterful  man  of  great  intelligence 
and  splendid  bearing.  Strong,  deep-chested,  clear- 
eyed,  bold,  and  resolute,  he  was  a  typical  sailor,  a 
graduate  of  the  Naval  Academy,  who  rendered  val- 
uable service  till  the  end  of  the  war,  when  he  re- 
signed, and  in  a  few  years  amassed  an  ample  for- 
tune as  a  railroad  projector,  builder,  and  manager. 

Gillmore  of  the  Engineers  was  my  senior  by 
seven  or  eight  years  and,  although  he  was  an  excel- 
lent officer  of  great  learning,  dignity,  and  reserve, 
with  many  military  accomplishments,  he  extended 
to  me  his  confidence  and  his  intimacy.  Our  routes 
through  life  lay  apart  from  the  time  I  left  Port 
Royal,  but  we  touched  again  at  the  close  of  the  war 
in  Georgia  where  he  occupied  the  coast  with  a  corps 

1  O.  R.,  Series  I,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  134,  138,  142,  146,  150,  152,  153, 
157,  160. 

See,  also,  Vol.  XIV,  pp.  5,  6,  8,  9,  326. 

96 


PORT   ROYAL    EXPEDITION 

of  infantry  while  I  occupied  the  interior  with  the 
Cavalry  Corps,  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi. 
Our  chief  commissary,  Captain  M.  R.  Morgan, 
was  an  officer  of  character  and  ability,  who  rose  to 
high  rank  and  distinction  after  his  career  had  been 
almost  wrecked  by  confinement  to  the  duty  of  feed- 
ing the  troops  when  he  should  have  been  leading 
them  to  victory.  The  same  may  be  said  in  substan- 
tially the  same  words  of  John  W.  Turner,  formerly 
of  the  regular  artillery,  who  stopped  at  Port  Eoyal 
with  General  Butler  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans.  He 
wasted  at  least  two  years  in  duties  which  might  have 
been  as  well  performed  by  any  intelligent  grocer, 
but  finally  broke  the  shackles  that  bound  him  and 
reached  the  rank  of  major  general  before  the  war 
ended.  The  Military  Academy  never  turned  out  two 
better  soldiers.  Modest,  serious,  accomplished,  and 
experienced  in  every  branch  of  the  military  profes- 
sion, they  needed  only  an  opportunity  to  show  their 
patriotism  and  their  merits.  Their  cases,  as  well 
as  many  others,  show  how  utterly  uninformed  the 
War  Department  was  as  to  the  record  and  character 
of  its  officers  and  how  entirely  it  failed  to  organize 
an  efficient  system  of  making  itself  acquainted  with 
their  particular  aptitude  and  merits.  When  all  this 
is  considered,  the  reader  will  be  slow  to  condemn 
those  officers  who  went  out  of  their  way  to  seek 
service  in  the  hope  that  they  might  not  only  make 
themselves  useful,  but  find  rank  and  honor. 


97 


Ill 

ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

Return  to  Washington — McClellan  's  staff — South  Mountain 
— Battle  of  Antietam — Hooker  wounded — Pleasant 
Valley — Return  to  Washington. 

I  sailed  for  Philadelphia  on  the  Augusta,  for- 
merly a  merchantman,  August  30.  Her  machinery 
was  so  out  of  order  that  she  came  into  Port  Eoyal 
at  seven  miles  an  hour,  but  when  she  started  north 
for  repairs  she  easily  knocked  off  twelve  or  thirteen ; 
but  with  all,  we  were  four  days  on  the  way,  and  I 
did  not  reach  Washington  till  eight  o'clock  Septem- 
ber 5.  While  the  new  general-in-chief  received 
me  politely,  I  was  not  expected  and  no  orders  were 
ready  for  me.  I  had  read  Halleck's  "Art  of  War", 
and  was  ready  to  believe  him  not  only  a  learned 
man,  but  a  mighty  captain.  Great  victories  had 
been  gained  and  great  disasters  had  been  averted  in 
his  western  command.  Belmont,  Fort  Henry,  Fort 
Donelson,  Shiloh,  and  Corinth  had  been  won,  and 
while  Grant  was  popularly  regarded  as  the  principal 
figure,  Halleck  was  his  titular  chief,  and  in  common 
with  many  others  I  was  disposed  to  give  him  a 
great  part  of  the  credit.  He  had  already  received 
the  sobriquet  of  "Old  Brains",  but  when  I  beheld 

98 


ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

his  bulging  eyes,  his  flabby  cheeks,  his  slack-twisted 
figure,  and  his  slow  and  deliberate  movements,  and 
noted  his  sluggish  speech,  lacking  in  point  and  mag- 
netism, I  experienced  a  distinct  feeling  of  disap- 
pointment which  from  that  day  never  grew  less.  I 
could  not  reconcile  myself  to  the  idea  that  an  officer 
of  such  negative  appearance  could  ever  be  a  great 
leader  of  men.  He  might  be  a  great  lawyer,  a  great 
student,  a  great  theorist,  but  never  an  active,  ener- 
getic, and  capable  commander  in  the  field,  and  that 
is  now  the  verdict  of  history.  For  several  years 
some  thought  him  a  wise  and  self-reliant  counsellor, 
a  good  military  organizer,  and  a  far-seeing  strate- 
gist ;  but  long  before  the  war  ended  he  came  to  be  re- 
garded by  close  observers,  and  especially  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  as  a  negligible  quantity. 

He  was  obliging  and  considerate  with  me  and 
readily  enough  gave  me  permission  to  look  about  for 
a  regiment,  but  that  was  the  end  of  it.  So  far  as 
I  knew,  he  took  no  further  interest  in  my  career.  I 
saw  him  but  once  after  that,  nor  had  I  anything 
further  to  do  with  him,  except  that  two  years  later, 
when  relieved  from  charge  of  the  Cavalry  Bureau, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  at  my  suggestion,  directed 
him  to  take  general  supervision  of  its  administra- 
tion along  with  his  other  duties  as  chief -of-staff  to 
which  position  he  had  finally  been  reduced. 

Leaving  his  office,  I  went  at  once  to  my  bureau 
chief,  and  had  a  similar  experience — plenty  of  civil- 
ity, lots  of  sympathy,  but  no  orders.  I  was  again 
asked  where  I  wanted  to  go  and  what  I  wanted  to 
do.  Engineer  officers  were  in  great  demand  and,  as 
there  were  but  few  of  them,  I  might  have  my  choice 
of  places.    The  principal  assistant  evidently  wanted 

99 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

to  help  me.  He  had  read  my  letters  and  reports 
with  interest  and  approval  and  did  his  best  to  place 
me  where  I  should  have  a  fair  field  for  my  energies, 
but  he  was  powerless  himself  to  make  orders  or 
to  direct  my  services.  He  said  that  Grant  had  no 
engineer  officer  whatever,  that  he  was  calling  loudly 
for  as  many  as  could  be  spared  and  that  I  could 
doubtless  go  to  him  if  I  saw  nothing  better.  Where- 
upon I  replied  that  I  preferred  to  go  to  Grant  rather 
than  to  anyone  else,  that  my  brothers  and  my  west- 
ern friends  were  in  his  army,  and  that  my  interests 
and  my  inclinations  lay  in  that  direction. 

But  the  country  was  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
crisis.  McClellan  had  been  beaten  and  withdrawn 
from  the  James  River.  Pope  and  McDowell  had 
just  been  overthrown  by  Lee  at  Bull  Eun  and  Chan- 
tilly,  and,  although  both  Fitz-John  Porter  and 
Franklin  had  reached  the  scene  of  conflict,  the  two 
armies  had  not  been  entirely  united  in  front  of 
Washington.  In  fact  both  were  still  retiring  and, 
on  the  day  I  arrived,  they  began  to  pass  through 
Washington  into  Maryland  for  the  purpose  of  again 
confronting  the  victorious  Confederates. 

A  great  campaign  was  on,  great  battles  were 
pending  and,  of  course,  I  wanted  to  participate.  I 
therefore  asked  that  I  might  be  ordered  definitely  to 
Grant,  but  permitted  to  volunteer  temporarily  on 
McClelland  staff.  And  thus  the  matter  was  ar- 
ranged. The  next  step  was  to  find  interest  with 
McClellan,  who  had  again  become  all-powerful.  For- 
tunately, Major  Hardie,  one  of  my  friends  and  com- 
panions in  the  long  trip  from  Vancouver,  had  a  desk 
in  the  adjutant  general's  office  and  kindly  offered 
to  see  McClellan  at  once  and,  if  possible,  to  get 

100 


ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

permission  for  me  to  join  him.  What  difficulty 
he  had  I  never  knew,  but  the  second  morning  there- 
after I  received  orders  to  report  to  McClellan  at  or 
beyond  Eockville.  The  post  quartermaster  furnished 
me  with  a  horse,  and,  hastily  gathering  up  such 
equipment  and  supplies  as  I  needed,  I  took  the  road 
for  headquarters  with  Martin  and  Custer  who  were 
also  out  for  service. 

Both  Martin  and  I  had  known  Custer  well  at^ 
West  Point.  He  was  an  indifferent  scholar,  but  a 
fellow  of  tremendous  vitality  and  vigor.  Six  feet 
tall,  with  broad  shoulders,  deep  chest,  thin  waist, 
and  splendid  legs,  he  had  a  perfect  figure  and  was 
one  of  the  best  horsemen  of  his  day.  He  had  gone 
straight  from  the  Academy  to  McClellan  on  the 
Peninsula  where  he  had  already  shown  himself  to 
be  a  man  of  enterprise  and  daring,  ready  for  any 
service  that  came  his  way.  He  was  known  in  his 
cadet  days  and  always  afterward  by  his  familiars 
as  "Cinnamon",  because  he  was  partial  to  cinnamon 
hair  oil,  a  bottle  of  which  he  brought  with  him  to 
West  Point.  Shortly  after  reporting  at  army  head- 
quarters, the  story  goes,  McClellan  advanced  to  the 
south  bank  of  the  Chickahominy  attended  by  a  nu- 
merous staff  of  princes,  counts,  rich  men,  and  dis- 
tinguished regulars.  Custer,  then  merely  a  plebe 
second  lieutenant,  was  at  the  tail  of  the  column. 
The  general,  after  gazing  with  interest  at  the 
stream,  which  was  both  full  and  wide,  said  reflec- 
tively: "I  wish  I  knew  how  deep  it  is."  Of  course, 
none  of  the  great  ones  stirred,  but  as  the  question 
trickled  slowly  toward  the  rear,  Custer  caught  its 
import,  left  his  place  in  ranks,  pushed  to  the  river 
bank,  drove  his  spurs  into  his  horse,  and  plunged 

101 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

into  the  water  with  the  remark:  "I'll  damn  soon 
show  how  deep  it  is."  In  less  time  than  it  takes 
to  tell  it,  he  was  swimming  for  the  other  shore. 
Beaching  it  shortly,  he  turned  about  and  swam  back, 
and  as  he  came  ashore  he  called  out:  "That's  how 
deep  it  is,  General, ' '  and  then  took  his  place  quietly 
in  the  column.  It  was  that  sort  of  readiness  and 
hardihood  which  soon  won  his  stars,  giving  him  first 
a  brigade  and  then  a  division  of  cavalry,  which  in 
turn  made  him  within  three  years  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  of  his  day.  Custer  was  never 
rated  as  a  great  general,  for,  although  full  of  dash, 
enterprise,  and  experience,  he  never  acquired  the 
habit  of  properly  measuring  the  endurance  of  his 
men  and  horses.  Besides,  some  thought  him  over- 
confident and  occasionally  jealous,  and  it  was  those 
two  great  defects  of  character  that  led  to  the  final 
and  fatal  blunder  which  ended  his  brilliant  career. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  several  years  after  the  Civil 
War  before  going  into  battle  with  the  Sioux  In- 
dians he  divided  his  regiment  into  two  detachments, 
sending  four  troops  in  one  direction,  leading  the 
remainder  himself  against  the  Indians  in  the  other. 
In  the  desperate  battle  which  followed,  he  and  all 
his  companions,  to  the  last  man,  were  slain. 

But  during  the  Antietam  campaign,  Custer  was 
the  youngest  officer  of  the  staff,  scarcely  more  than 
a  boy.  We  overtook  headquarters  the  first  day  out, 
and  with  Merritt,  Bowen,  Kellogg,  and  Jack  Wil- 
son, all  young  West  Pointers,  we  formed  a  mess 
and  soon  became  known  as  a  hard-working,  hard- 
riding  gang  ready  for  any  service  that  might  come 
our  way.  McClellan  was  kind  to  us,  one  and  all, 
and  by  his  genial  and  gentle  ways  won  our  hearty 

102 


ANTIETAM   CAMPAIGN 

approval  and  support  from  the  start.  While  he 
spared  none  of  us,  he  directed  Ingalls,  the  chief 
quartermaster,  to  keep  us  supplied  with  fresh 
mounts  so  that  we  might  go  whenever  called  upon. 
By  the  end  of  the  week  we  had  a  string  of  twenty- 
five  horses,  all  about  the  best  that  the  country  could 
supply.  We  were  a  jolly  and  cheerful  party,  all  of 
whom  except  myself  had  been  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  since  its  organization.  They  had  gone 
with  it  to  the  Peninsula  and  had  participated  cred- 
itably in  all  the  battles  of  the  campaign.  Jack  Wil- 
son had  particularly  distinguished  himself,  com- 
manding a  battery  during  the  retreat  to  the  James 
Eiver. 

Bowen  and  Merritt  had  been  behind  the  scenes 
on  the  staff,  and  as  they  were  both  able  and  ob- 
servant men  they  were  already  veterans  who  needed 
only  the  experience  of  commanding  troops  to  make 
them  famous.  This  privilege  came  to  Merritt  and 
Custer  a  few  months  later  when  Pleasanton  selected 
them  to  command  cavalry  brigades  because  they 
were  well-educated,  young,  vigorous,  intelligent,  and 
enterprising. 

But  none  of  us  was  thinking  much  of  death  or 
even  of  fame  at  that  time.  We  were  in  the  midst 
of  a  great  campaign,  the  significance  of  which  we  all 
understood  quite  as  well  as  the  wisest  general,  and 
our  highest  desire  was  for  active  and  useful  duty. 
Those  of  us  who  were  engineers  were  kept  going 
night  and  day,  reconnoitering  and  scouting.  Bowen 
and  I,  assisted  by  the  French  Count  de  Vilarceau, 
while  operating  on  the  left  toward  Crampton's  Gap 
and  Catoctin  Mountain,  passed  through  Damascus, 
Hyattsville,   Goshen,   Urbanna,  Middletown,   Fred- 

103 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

erick,  and  Keedysville,  scouring  the  country  in  all 
directions  for  the  enemy. 

It  was  on  September  10  that  General  Hart- 
suff,  one  of  my  West  Point  instructors,  offered  me 
the  command  of  the  Sixteenth  Maine,  which  I 
promptly  accepted,  and  my  name  was  sent  in  to 
Halleck  for  the  detail.  But  neither  the  detail  nor 
the  commission  ever  came,  mainly,  as  I  always  sup- 
posed, because  the  governor  of  the  state  did  not 
know  me  or  thought  me  too  young.  Two  days  there- 
after I  received,  through  Colonel  Fisher,  an  offer 
of  the  lieutenant  colonelcy  of  the  First  Delaware 
Cavalry,  but  with  a  colonelcy  pending  I  could  not  ac- 
cept a  lower  grade.  I  had,  besides,  telegraphed  and 
written  to  the  Governor  of  Illinois  on  my  arrival  at 
Washington  offering  my  services  with  the  volun- 
teers, and,  not  hearing  from  him,  I  was  somewhat 
embarrassed  as  to  the  course  I  ought  to  pursue. 
Meanwhile  I  was  leading  a  \ '  strenuous  life ' ',  though 
I  did  not  know  it,  for  that  adjective  did  not  come 
into  fashion  till  many  years  afterward.  Eiding  all 
day  with  a  detachment  of  cavalry  and  living  off  of 
the  country  whi~h  was  bountifully  laden  with  sup- 
plies, I  found  both  villagers  and  farmers  not  only 
patriotic,  but  everywhere  hailing  the  Union  flag  with 
enthusiasm.  Their  hospitality  and  good  cheer  were 
unstinted.  Camping  when  night  overtook  us  where 
we  could  find  forage,  we  sent  our  information  and 
sketches  by  courier  to  the  acting  chief  engineer,  Ma- 
jor Duane,  without  relaxing  our  advance  in  search 
of  the  enemy.  It  soon  became  evident  that  Lee  was 
retreating,  and  when  Pleasanton  with  the  cavalry, 
guided  by  us  and  supported  by  Cox,  Reno,  Burnside, 
and  Hooker,  pushed  him  along  the  turnpike  through 

104 


ANTIETAM   CAMPAIGN 

the  Gap,  we  knew  that  we  should  soon  overtake  his 
army  and  have  a  great  battle.  * 

At  the  crossing  of  the  main  road  over  the  Catoc- 
tin  Eidge,  after  a  good  deal  of  hesitation  and  delay 
with  some  successful  skirmishing,  both  Pleasanton 
and  Eeno  sent  reports  to  McClellan  claiming  a  ' i  glo- 
rious victory,"  before  any  real  fight  had  actually 
occurred.  Fearing  that  McClellan  might  be  misled 
thereby,  Bowen  and  I,  after  suggesting  that  more 
troops  should  be  put  in,  wrote  a  "private  and  con- 
fidential" note  to  Duane  at  general  headquarters, 
urging  that  McClellan  himself  should  come  to  the 
front.  We  intimated  that  he  was  being  deceived, 
that  the  enemy  occupied  a  position  of  great  strength 
on  the  top  of  the  ridge,  and  that  we  might  be  beaten 
unless  our  advance  were  made  with  an  overwhelm- 
ing force.  It  was  a  bold  proceeding  on  the  part  of 
two  lieutenants,  but  it  brought  about  the  desired  re- 
sult. Duane  showed  our  note  to  McClellan,  who 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  rapidly  to  the  site  of 
our  operations.  Upon  this  occasion  at  least  he  acted 
with  both  promptitude  and  vigor.  Taking  in  the 
situation  within  fifteen  minutes  after  reaching  the 
ground,  he  sent  orders  to  Hooker  and  Sumner  which 
put  them  in  motion  and  brought  on  the  fight  at  once. 
Moving  all  together,  they  drove  the  enemy  from  be- 
hind the  stone  fences  in  the  Gap  with  great  slaugh- 
ter. The  victory  was  a  signal  and  encouraging  one. 
It  was  here  that  I  first  saw  infantry  attacking  after 
nightfall.  The  flash  of  the  rebel  rifles  lit  the  moun- 
tain side  like  fireflies,  but  when  Gibbon's  serried 
line  poured  out  its  volleys  from  its  front  like  con- 
tinuous streaks  of  lightning  and  kept  steadily  on 
without  wavering  or  faltering  till  it  had  crowned 

105 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

the  ridge,  we  knew  the  victory  was  surely  ours. 
Shortly  afterward  news  came  from  Franklin  at 
Crampton's  Gap,  four  miles  south  on  the  Berkits- 
ville  road,  that  he  had  also  been  successful,  and  this 
made  it  certain  that  we  were  in  contact  with  Lee's 
rear  guard,  and  should  soon  have  a  general  battle. 
Near  the  scene  of  conflict  on  the  principal  route 
when  the  affair  was  over,  Bowen  and  I  took  shelter 
in  a  farmhouse.  The  nights  were  growing  cold.  We 
had  neither  overcoats  nor  camp  outfit,  and,  as  all 
the  beds  were  occupied  by  officers  of  higher  rank, 
we  slept  on  the  floor  with  law  books  for  pillows. 
Before  morning,  however,  as  it  grew  more  chilly, 
we  half  unconsciously  tore  up  and  crawled  under 
the  carpet  for  warmth,  and  when  we  got  out  in  the 
morning  we  were  as  white  as  millers.  In  those  days 
we  did  not  mind  a  little  thing  like  that,  and  dusting 
each  other  off  as  best  we  could,  and  grabbing  such 
food  as  we  could  find,  we  swung  into  our  saddles 
again  and  pushed  on  toward  Antietam  and  Sharps- 
burg.  We  had  been  in  the  field  for  just  a  week,  and 
while  we  had  been  zigzagging  through  the  country 
at  the  rate  of  thirty  and  forty  miles  a  day,  we  nat- 
urally thought  the  army  in  the  rear  was  pushing  on 
as  impatiently  as  we  were.  We  had,  however,  met 
McClellan  first  at  Rockville  on  the  8th  and  had 
passed  Burnside  on  the  road  only  a  few  miles  fur- 
ther out,  apparently  in  no  sort  of  a  hurry.  He  was 
sitting  by  the  roadside,  and  hailed  us  as  we  rode  by 
with  a  jolly '  !  How  are  you,  boys  I  Get  down  and  wet 
your  whistles/ f  But  we  were  in  a  hurry  and  pressed 
to  the  front.  From  this  trivial  circumstance  and 
from  the  fact  that  our  couriers  were  generally  a 
long  while  absent,  it  gradually  dawned  on  us  that 

106 


ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

the  progress  of  the  army  as  a  whole,  averaging  only- 
seven  or  eight  miles  a  day,  was  far  from  rapid.  Evi- 
dently no  part  of  it  was  making  forced  marches,  and 
this,  to  our  youthful  and  ardent  minds,  was  most 
discouraging. 

But  it  had  not  occurred  to  us  yet  to  doubt 
McClellan.  So  far  he  appeared  to  be  not  only  more 
aggressive,  but  more  active,  than  any  of  his  lieu- 
tenants. He  was  again  the  popular  favorite  and  the 
army  as  well  as  its  officers  of  every  grade  still  re- 
garded him  as  ' i  The  Young  Napoleon ' '  of  the  War. 
His  promptitude  in  coming  to  the  front  at  the  first 
clash  of  arms  had  encouraged  us.  It  had  strength- 
ened the  dim  far-off  hope  that  his  orderly  and  com- 
prehensive mind  might  be  working  out  a  splendid 
combination  of  strategy  and  grand  tactics  which 
would  enable  us  to  crush  and  perhaps  capture  Lee  's 
army,  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  war.  We  had 
early  come  to  believe  that  Lee 's  forces  were  divided, 
and  to  hope,  as  we  had  been  taught,  that  we  should 
overtake  and  beat  them  in  detail.  But  this  was  not 
to  be.  Our  movements  were  too  slow  and  too  cir- 
cumspect, and  yet  "strategy,  my  boy,"  was  the 
catchword  of  the  day.  After  we  crossed  South 
Mountain  and  the  Catoctin  range,  we  thought  that 
Harper's  Ferry  might  be  our  destination,  knowing 
that  our  garrison  at  that  place  lay  within  the 
enemy's  theater  of  operations  and  was  necessarily 
in  danger.  McClellan,  so  far  as  we  could  see,  in- 
stead of  hastening  our  march,  advanced  with  still 
greater  deliberation.  Harper's  Ferry  was  in  every- 
body's mind  and  on  everybody's  tongue,  but,  instead 
of  coming  to  it,  it  seemed  to  grow  more  and  more 
distant,  so  that  in  the  end  as  we  rode  by  the  slowly 

107 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

moving  columns,  the  common  soldiers  in  the  ranks 
would  cry  out:  "Who  in  the  hell  is  Harper,  and 
where's  his  ferry?" 

On  the  morning  of  September  10  we  rejoined 
general  headquarters,  and  one  of  the  first  things  we 
heard  there  was  the  news  of  the  capture  by  Stone- 
wall Jackson  of  Harper's  Ferry  and  its  garrison  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  yet  McClellan  did  not  seem 
to  be  disturbed.  Calm  and  deliberate,  he  spent  the 
entire  day  (Sept.  16)  forming  line  of  battle  astride  of 
Antietam  Creek  and  "shelling  the  woods"  beyond. 
Bowen  and  I  were  kept  busy  until  after  nightfall 
reconnoitering  the  field  and  placing  the  troops  in 
position.  But  nobody  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry  except 
ourselves.  Corps  and  divisions  moved  as  languidly 
to  the  places  assigned  them  as  if  they  were  getting 
ready  for  a  grand  review  instead  of  a  decisive  battle. 
I  had  got  from  the  books  the  idea  that  everything, 
after  we  were  within  reach  of  the  enemy,  should  be 
bustle  and  push  and  rapid  marching;  but  again  I  was 
disappointed,  and  when  night  came  on  without  any- 
thing more  serious  than  a  little  skirmishing,  I  lay 
down  tired  and  discouraged.  My  confidence  in  the 
military  virtues  of  "celerity  and  audacity"  was  be- 
ginning to  fade,  and  it  was  dawning  on  me  that, 
while  we  should  probably  win,  we  should  win  by 
"main  strength  and  awkwardness,"  rather  than  by 
strategy  or  generalship.  And  with  that  thought 
uppermost  in  my  mind  I  went  to  sleep  in  my  clothes, 
ready  for  a  call  at  any  minute. 

At  early  dawn  (Sept.  17)  all  were  astir.  The 
weather  was  fine  but  the  air  was  hazy  with  the  smoke 
of  our  camp  fires.  At  six  o  'clock  cannonading  began, 
but  even  before  that,  far  away  on  the  right,  Hooker 

108 


ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

had  anticipated  the  initial  movement  from  the  cen- 
ter, as  if  he  hoped  to  win  the  battle  without  help,  and 
thus  monopolize  the  honors  of  the  day.  Receiving  a 
slight  wound  in  the  foot,  shortly  after  beginning  his 
advance,  he  left  the  field  without  making  any  serious 
impression  on  the  enemy's  line,  and  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  many  of  his  men. 

Sumner's  splendid  corps  of  over  thirty  thousand 
was  ordered  to  move  at  seven  o'clock,  but  did  not 
cross  the  Antietam  till  nearly  ten.  He  claimed  that 
he  had  not  actually  been  ordered  to  attack,  but 
merely  "to  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  move."  But 
when  he  did  attack,  it  was  by  "divisions  in  echelon" 
instead  of  in  a  line  of  proper  columns.  But  from 
McClellan's  headquarters  it  was  a  thrilling  sight. 
With  flags  flying  and  the  long  unfaltering  lines  ris- 
ing and  falling  as  they  crossed  the  rolling  fields,  it 
looked  as  though  nothing  could  stop  them,  but  they 
were  checked  before  getting  within  close  range  of 
the  rebel  rifles.  The  interval  between  echelons  was 
too  great  and  their  flanks  were  too  much  exposed. 
Shortly  the  whole  corps  became  disordered  and  not 
only  lost  its  impulse,  but  fell  back  in  confusion  to 
the  open  fields,  where  it  found  sheltering  swales 
pretty  well  out  of  range.  4 

About  eleven  o'clock,  perhaps  a  little  later, 
Franklin,  with  Baldy  Smith's  and  Couch's  divisions, 
arrived  on  the  same  field  and  advancing  gallantly  to 
the  attack,  checked  the  confusion  and  restored  con- 
fidence to  the  ranks  which  had  advanced  against 
stone  walls  in  vain. 

Fitz-John  Porter  with  the  Fifth  Corps,  composed 
of  one  division  of  regulars  and  two  of  volunteers, 
occupied  the  left  center.    As  this  formidable  force, 

109 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

regarded  as  the  flower  of  the  army,  received  no  or- 
ders to  advance,  it  stood  fast  all  day,  taking  no  real 
part  in  the  battle.  For  all  the  good  it  did  it  might 
as  well  have  been  at  Frederick  or  in  Washington. 

Still  farther  to  the  left  Burnside,  with  a  full 
army  corps  moving  on  the  Keedysville  road,  was 
expected  to  force  his  way  across  the  gorge  of  the 
lower  Antietam  which  was  justly  regarded  as  im- 
passable except  by  the  bridge ;  but  instead  of  carry- 
ing the  bridge  and  getting  into  line  on  the  other 
side  before  eleven,  as  was  expected,  Burnside 's  first 
attempt  was  weak  and  irresolute,  and  without  posi- 
tive results. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  long  before  noon  Mc- 
Clellan's  disjointed  and  badly  timed  attacks  against 
the  enemy's  compact  line  had  come  to  naught,  and 
the  fortunes  of  the  day  were  trembling  in  the  bal- 
ance. Notwithstanding  McClellan  claimed  then  and 
always  afterward  that  his  plan  of  battle  was  mas- 
terly, he  had  committed  the  unpardonable  blun- 
der of  camping  his  army  part  on  one  side  and  part 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Antietam,  thus  making  it 
exceedingly  difficult  for  his  different  corps  to  move 
simultaneously  and  entirely  impossible  to  engage 
the  enemy  at  the  same  time. 

The  force  of  this  criticism  becomes  apparent 
when  it  is  remembered  that,  notwithstanding  re- 
peated orders,  the  last  of  which  I  carried  in  person, 
Burnside  did  not  succeed  in  forcing  his  way  across 
the  Antietam  till  three  o  'clock  in  the  afternoon.  His 
efforts  throughout  the  morning  had  been  weak  and 
abortive,  but  he  finally  found  in  Colonel  Kingsbury 
of  the  Eleventh  Connecticut  Volunteers  the  right 
man  for  the  work  in  hand. 

110 


ANTIETAM   CAMPAIGN 

This  superb  young  colonel,  less  than  a  year  out 
of  West  Point,  had  recently  given  hostages  to  fate ; 
but  neither  Caesar  nor  Napoleon  ever  had  a  better 
soldier  or  a  more  fearless  man  for  a  desperate  un- 
dertaking. He  had  graduated  fourth  in  a  notable 
class  and  had  served  first  with  a  battery  of  artillery 
where  he  finally  won  his  regiment.  He  was  a  dis- 
tinguished scholar  and  an  accomplished  athlete, 
mentally  and  physically  a  perfect  soldier.  A  judi- 
cious disciplinarian,  an  accomplished  tactician,  and 
a  careful,  considerate  instructor,  he  was  now  fairly 
launched  on  a  career  which  nothing  but  death  could 
terminate  in  failure.  His  father,  an  old  officer  of 
the  army,  had  been  fortunate  enough  at  an  early 
day  to  become  the  owner  of  a  large  tract  of  land  at 
the  government  price  in  what  is  now  the  center  of 
Chicago,  and  which  he  is  said  to  have  sold  fre- 
quently, but  being  too  lazy  to  make  the  deed,  held  till 
death,  when  it  descended  to  his  son  and  daughter, 
the  wife  of  Simon  Bolivar  Buckner.  Having  gone 
south  with  her  husband  and  fearing  confiscation, 
Mrs.  Buckner  conveyed  her  interests  uncondition- 
ally, so  far  as  the  deed  itself  was  concerned,  but 
really  in  trust,  to  her  brother.  The  latter,  fear- 
ing that  complications  might  arise  in  case  of  his 
death,  the  night  before  the  battle  sent  for  two 
of  his  friends  of  the  regular  army  to  witness  his 
will,  but  they  were  busy  or  did  not  get  his  message 
and  consequently  did  not  act  as  witnesses.  Whether 
he  actually  drew  the  will  or  made  an  authorita- 
tive declaration  I  never  knew,  but  the  next  day  he 
fell  with  a  mortal  wound  while  leading  his  regiment 
successfully  across  the  Stone  Bridge.  Burnside  won, 
but  the  gallant  Kingsbury  lost  forever.     In  due 

111 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

course  a  posthumous  son  was  born  to  him.  After 
the  peace  this  son  and  the  Kingsbury  estate  were 
involved  for  years  in  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
lawsuits  of  the  period  with  General  Buckner  and 
his  wife,  who  after  great  expense  finally  secured 
the  rights  which  a  few  lines  written  by  Kingsbury 
and  witnessed  by  his  friends  on  the  eve  of  battle 
would  have  freed  forever  from  controversy. 

But  to  return  to  the  battle.  During  the  interval 
between  the  failure  of  Hooker  and  Sumner  and  of 
the  partial  but  belated  success  of  Burnside,  Mc- 
Clellan  and  his  staff  were  fearful  of  the  result.  For 
ffcur  hours  it  was  a  question  which  army  should  first 
assume  the  offensive.  While  we  still  had  at  hand 
something  like  twenty  thousand  men  who  had  not 
fired  a  shot,  and  while  there  was  plenty  of  daylight 
to  fight  another  battle,  McClellan,  under  the  timid 
counsels  of  his  subordinates,  still  "  dared  not  .  .  . 
put  it  to  the  touch  and  win  or  lose  it  all!" 

And  thus  it  stood  till  Burnside  was  at  last  on 
the  farther  side  of  the  creek.  I  had  already  ridden 
the  whole  line  of  battle  more  than  once  and  reported 
its  shaky  condition  to  McClellan  who,  on  receiving 
word  of  Burnside 's  sadly  delayed  but  encouraging 
success,  sent  me  again  to  the  right  to  tell  Sumner 
"to  get  up  his  men  and  hold  his  position  at  all 
hazards,  as  Burnside  had  crossed  and  was  advanc- 
ing finely. "  Eiding  a  slashing  gray  as  active  as  a 
deer,  stone  fences  were  nothing  to  me.  I  covered 
the  ground  going  and  coming  in  less  than  thirty 
minutes,  including  stops  and  delays. 

I  found  Sumner  glum  and  grim,  surrounded  by 
his  staff  and  several  division  commanders,  and,  so 
far  as  I  could  judge,  with  but  little  or  no  fight  left 

112 


ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

in  him.  I  delivered  my  orders  at  once,  but  instead 
of  answering  in  a  cheery  and  confident  tone,  he 
sang  out: 

"Go  back,  young  man,  and  ask  General  McClel- 
lan  if  I  shall  make  a  simultaneous  advance  with  my 
whole  line  at  the  risk  of  not  being  able  to  rally 
a  man  on  this  side  of  the  creek  if  I  am  driven 
back." 

As  nothing  had  been  said  about  an  advance,  I 
replied : 

"General,  from  the  tenor  of  the  order  I  have 
just  delivered,  I  will  assume  to  say  that  General 
McClellan  simply  desires  and  expects  you  to  hold 
your  position  for  the  present." 

At  this  the  general  repeated : 

"Go  back,  young  man,  and  bring  an  answer  to 
my  question." 

Whereupon  I  galloped  to  headquarters  and  de- 
livered Sumner's  message  as  above,  to  which  Mc- 
Clellan retorted  in  sharp  and  impatient  tones : 

"Tell  General  Sumner  to  risk  nothing.  I  ex- 
pect him  to  hold  his  present  position  at  every  cost. 
This  is  the  great  battle  of  the  war  and  every  man 
must  do  his  duty." 

And  then,  as  if  changing  his  mind,  he  added: 

"Tell  the  general  to  crowd  every  man  and  gun 
into  ranks,  and,  if  he  thinks  it  practicable,  he  may 
advance  Franklin  to  carry  the  woods  in  front,  hold- 
ing the  rest  of  the  line  with  his  own  command,  as- 
sisted by  those  of  Banks  and  Hooker." 

And  this  order  was  delivered  with  emphasis  in 
the  exact  terms  it  had  been  given  to  me  and  at  the 
spot  where  I  had  found  the  group  before.  Frank- 
lin, Smith,  Howard,  Newton,  Gibbon,  Gorman,  and 

113 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

several  others  were  standing  by,  apparently  listen- 
ing for  what  was  to  be  said. 

I  had  hardly  got  through  with  rny  message,  when 
Sumner  returned  to  the  subject,  saying: 

"Go  back,  young  man,  and  tell  General  McClel- 
lan  I  have  no  command.  Tell  him  my  command, 
Banks '  command  and  Hooker 's  command  are  all  cut 
up  and  demoralized.  Tell  him  General  Franklin 
has  the  only  organized  command  on  this  part  of  the 
field!" 

Of  course,  there  was  nothing  for  me  but  to  return 
to  headquarters  with  this  discouraging  message,  and 
I  am  bound  to  add  that  in  my  judgment  it  indicated 
a  demoralized  state  of  mind,  if  not  a  demoralized 
state  of  affairs,  for  the  only  general  whom  I  met 
on  that  ride  who  sounded  a  different  note  was  Gen- 
eral French,  to  whom,  as  I  rode  by,  I  hastily  said : 
"McClellan's  orders  are  to  hold  your  position  at  all 
hazards,' '  and  instantly  the  bluff,  hearty,  red-faced 
old  regular  called  out:  "Tell  him,  by  God,  sir,  I'll 
do  it!" 

When  I  got  back  I  found  headquarters  in  charge 
of  Fitz-John  Porter,  who  received  my  report  with- 
out comment.  He  was  as  glum  and  apparently  as 
lacking  in  aggressive  temper  as  any  general  on  the 
field.  McClellan,  having  had  reports  from  others 
as  to  the  unpromising  condition  of  affairs,  had 
gone  in  person  to  the  right  to  see  for  himself.  I 
had  no  conversation  with  him  on  his  return,  but  do 
not  doubt  that  he  was  discouraged  by  his  ride,  as 
he  gave  no  orders  for  the  resumption  of  hostilities 
that  afternoon. 

During  the  day  I  rode  the  whole  line  from  the 
center  to  both  flanks  several  times.    One  of  the  sad- 

114 


ANTIETAM   CAMPAIGN 

dest  incidents  of  the  morning  was  the  death  of  the 
veteran  Mansfield  who  had  fallen  mortally  wounded, 
while  leading  his  men  into  action.  With  snow-white 
hair  and  martial  bearing,  he  was  as  knightly  a  fig- 
ure as  ever  gave  up  his  life  for  the  country,  and 
his  fall,  which  soon  became  known,  was  regarded 
as  a  serious  loss  to  the  entire  army. 

Next  to  Sumner's  right  I  found  Meade  with  the 
Pennsylvania  "Bucktails",  badly  scattered  and  with 
but  little  aggressive  temper  left.  A  short  distance 
farther  on  I  came  to  Hooker 's  front  and  was  amazed 
to  find  that  both  Hooker  and  the  greater  part  of 
his  corps  had  disappeared  from  the  field,  leaving 
no  sort  of  an  organization  to  hold  the  ground  they 
had  gained  near  the  Dunkard  Church  and  beyond. 
Indeed,  the  whole  right  center  and  extreme  right  of 
our  line  were  so  shattered  and  discouraged  by  the 
morning's  disjointed  work  that  I  did  not  hesitate, 
young  and  inexperienced  as  I  was,  to  say  to  Mc- 
Clellan  that  he  should  not  only  order  his  corps  and 
division  commanders  to  get  all  their  men  back  into 
line,  but  send  reinforcements  and  direct  them  as 
soon  as  possible  to  niove  vigorously  against  the 
enemy's  position.  I  felt  the  importance  of  assum- 
ing the  offensive  first,  because  I  was  sure  that  if 
the  enemy  should  anticipate  us,  he  would  sweep  our 
entire  right  wing  from  the  field.  Even  at  that  late 
hour  I  do  not  doubt  that  if  Lee  could  have  rallied 
and  concentrated  enough  men  to  make  an  aggressive 
return  against  our  right  wing,  he  would  have  won 
the  day.  But,  fortunately,  his  men  were  also  used 
up  and  content  to  stand  at  bay  till  night  put  an  end 
to  the  conflict. 

Shortly  after  returning  from  my  first  ride  to 
115 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

Hooker,  George  W.  Smalley,  war  correspondent  of 
the  New  York  Tribune,  joined  the  group  of  officers 
near  the  headquarters  flag.  Knowing  that  he  had 
been  on  that  part  of  the  field  all  morning,  I  asked 
him  where  Hooker  was.  He  was  the  only  corps  com- 
mander I  had  not  found  near  the  line  of  battle,  and, 
having  heard  that  he  had  been  but  slightly  wound- 
ed, it  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  be  a  most  timely 
and  inspiring  thing  if  he  would  go  back  to  the  front. 
He  had  already  won  the  nickname  "Fighting  Joe", 
and  was  known  as  a  most  ambitious  man,  and  it 
flashed  through  my  mind  that  he  would  jump  at  the 
suggestion.  So  when  Smalley  pointed  out  the  red 
brick  house  about  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  right  and 
rear,  where  Hooker  had  established  himself,  with- 
out the  slightest  suggestion  from  anyone  else  but 
entirely  on  my  own  account  I  said: 

"Smalley,  ride  rapidly  to  Hooker  and  tell  him 
to  rally  his  corps  and  lead  it  back  to  the  field,  for 
by  doing  so  he  may  not  only  save  the  day,  but  save 
the  Union  also ! ' ' 

Smalley 's  horse  was  bleeding  from  a  bullet 
wound,  his  hair  was  disheveled,  and  his  clothes 
were  covered  with  dust.  He  replied:  "That's  splen- 
did, and  I'll  go  at  once,  but  I  fear  Hooker  is  too 
severely  wounded  to  mount  his  horse." 

I  sang  out: 

"That  makes  no  difference.  Let  him  get  into  an 
ambulance  and  drive  back  to  the  field.  Or,  what  is 
still  better,  put  him  on  a  stretcher,  and  with  his 
bugles  blowing  and  his  corps  flag  flying  over  him, 
let  his  men  carry  him  back  to  the  fighting  line,  while 
his  staff  take  the  news  to  the  division  and  brigade 
commanders. ' ' 

116 


ANTIETAM    CAMPAIGN 

Smalley,  realizing  that  the  part  assigned  him 
would  not  only  be  regarded  as  heroic  and  whatever 
the  result  would  make  him  famous,  dashed  away  at 
a  gallop,  calling  out  confidently:  "Hooker  will  go 
back.  I'll  answer  for  it!"  But  in  less  than  half 
an  hour,  Smalley  rejoined  us,  looking  discouraged 
and  dejected.  It  was  evident,  without  a  word  of  ex- 
planation, that  he  had  failed  in  his  mission,  and 
when  questioned,  he  replied:  "Hooker  says  he  can't 
go  back — his  foot  is  too  painful." 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  bullet  which 
wounded  him  passed  between  his  boot  sole  and  the 
hollow  of  his  foot,  and  that  he  walked  on  it  without 
crutches  within  ten  days,  it  will  be  seen  that  "Fight- 
ing Joe"  had  but  little  of  the  fortitude  and  none  of 
the  heroism  which  are  so  necessary  to  a  great  lead- 
er. From  that  day  forth  I  regarded  him  as  possess- 
ing but  little  real  merit. 

With  the  fight  taken  out  of  our  army,  all  our 
corps  commanders  disheartened,  and  absolutely 
nothing  done  by  any  of  them  after  Burnside  had 
failed  to  press  the  enemy's  right  near  Sharpsburg, 
we  were  still  greatly  encouraged  at  nightfall  by 
finding  the  army  still  in  possession  of  the  field  of 
battle.  When  it  is  recalled  that  Porter's  corps  add- 
ed to  the  divisions  of  Eeynolds  and  Humphreys  with 
twenty  thousand  fresh  men  would  give  us  not  less 
than  thirty  thousand  troops  who  had  not  yet  fired 
a  shot,  we  felt  confident  that  a  vigorous  attack  next 
morning  would  give  us  success  all  along  the  line. 
We  were  told  and,  of  course,  believed,  that  orders 
had  been  issued  for  an  advance  of  the  entire  army 
at  daylight,  and  in  that  belief  we  slept  that  night 
literally  on  our  arms.    Up  at  dawn  and  straining 

117 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

our  ears  to  hear  the  opening  guns,  we  mounted  and 
were  ready  for  orders  when  word  came  that  every 
corps  commander  except  Meade  had  protested, 
claiming  that  his  troops  "were  too  much  cut  up" 
to  renew  the  action  that  day.  To  his  never-ending 
shame,  McClellan  yielded  and  gave  out  word  that 
there  would  be  no  more  fighting  till  the  19th.  When 
that  day  came  the  enemy  had  gone,  leaving  us  the 
slender  consolation  that  the  field  was  ours.  The 
enemy  had  used  the  rest  under  cover  of  night  to 
recross  the  Potomac  with  all  his  impedimenta. 

McClellan,  instead  of  pursuing  hot-foot,  con- 
tented himself  with  claiming  a  great  victory,  reoc- 
cupying  Harper's  Ferry  and  then  settling  down 
to  rest  and  repair  damages.  My  diary  for  the  pe- 
riod is  full  of  notes  and  reflections,  which  show  that 
the  course  adopted  made  me  heartsick  and  despond- 
ent; but  as  this  is  neither  a  history  nor  a  military 
treatise,  I  conclude  with  the  statement  that,  as  soon 
as  I  realized  that  the  campaign  was  ended,  I  asked 
to  be  relieved  from  further  duty  with  that  army  and 
ordered  back  to  Washington.  McClellan  at  once 
granted  my  request  and  taking  leave  of  my  mess- 
mates, in  Pleasant  Valley  at  nightfall,  mounted  on 
my  big  gray,  I  covered  the  entire  distance  of  about 
seventy-five  miles  by  sunrise  the  next  morning. 


118 


IV 
INTERVIEW   WITH   McCLELLAN 

Halleck  's  Headquarters — General  McClernand — Pleasant 
Valley — Interview  with  McClellan — Washington — Or- 
dered to  Grant. 

Arriving  at  Halleck's  headquarters  early  Sep- 
tember 28,  I  received  a  chilly  welcome,  due,  as 
I  soon  learned,  to  the  fact  that  I  had  delayed  my  de- 
parture to  the  West  longer  than  had  been  expected. 
Although  both  Cullum,  chief-of-staff ,  and  my  bureau 
chief  had  given  me  permission  to  volunteer  on  Mc- 
Clelland staff  for  the  campaign,  the  former  now 
let  fall  the  unexpected  intimation  that  I  might  be 
"dismissed  for  absence  without  leave.' '  This  was 
more  than  I  could  stand,  and  called  forth  the  hot 
and  indignant  reply: 

"Tell  General  Halleck  to  dismiss  me  if  he  thinks 
proper,  but  in  doing  so  let  him  reflect  that  he  will 
dismiss  me  for  the  most  useful  service  of  my  life 
so  far." 

Of  course  the  storm  soon  blew  over.  As  I  had 
been  regularly  summoned  to  return  to  Pleasant 
Valley  as  a  witness  before  a  court-martial,  I 
had  several  days'  delay,  which  I  passed  mostly  with 
General  Hunter  and  General  McClernand,  tempo- 

119 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

rarily  in  Washington.  It  was  during  conversation 
with  the  latter  that  he  explained  the  business  which 
brought  him  there.  The  West  had  begun  already  to 
call  loudly  for  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  the 
opening  of  the  Mississippi  so  that  it  might  (in  the 
phrase  of  the  day)  "flow  unvexed  to  the  sea",  and 
he  had  come  on  for  the  purpose  of  getting  authority 
to  organize  and  command  an  expedition  for  that 
purpose.  As  a  townsman  and  neighbor  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  as  an  influential  Democrat  who  had  greatly 
distinguished  himself  both  at  Donelson  and  Shi- 
loh,  he  was  listened  to  with  favor.  Grant  at  that 
time  was  more  or  less  under  a  cloud,  and  this  made 
it  easier  for  McClernand,  who  was  far  from  friendly 
to  him.1  Indeed,  he  was  the  first  person  I  ever  heard 
speak  positively  of  Grant's  bad  habits  as  a  factor 
in  the  case.  He  had  formed  a  project  for  taking 
Vicksburg  and  operating  eastward  from  that  place, 
as  a  base,  against  the  interior  railroads  and  centers 
of  the  Confederacy.  His  proposition  was  to  raise 
twelve  thousand  new  troops  in  the  Northwest,  which 
with  his  old  division  he  thought  would  be  sufficient 
for  the  preliminary  operations.  Successful  in  cap- 
turing the  rebel  stronghold,  he  counted  confidently 
on  an  augmented  command,  if  not  upon  a  depart- 
ment of  his  own. 

Having  fully  explained  his  project  and  received 
the  President's  approval,  he  not  only  asked  for  my 
views,  but  offered  me  an  important  place  on  his 
staff.  He  was  a  forcible  and  interesting  man  and 
seemed  to  have  but  little  doubt  of  success.  His 
central  idea  was  sound  and  in  that  I  agreed  fully; 
but  I  pointed  out  that  as  Vicksburg  was  the  point 

1  O.  E.— Shiloh,  Series  1,  Vol.  X,  part  I,  p.  114. 
120 


INTERVIEW  WITH  McCLELLAN 

of  the  greatest  strategic  importance  in  the  western 
theater  of  operations,  the  government  could  not  af- 
ford to  let  its  capture  be  made  a  side  issue  or  a 
secondary  operation — that  it  would  be  compelled  to 
concentrate  all  its  efforts  in  that  direction,  and  that 
while  the  campaign  should  not  start  with  less  than 
fifty  thousand  or  sixty  thousand  men  and  a  strong 
gun-boat  fleet,  eighty  thousand  or  ninety  thousand 
with  a  large  proportion  of  cavalry  and  artillery 
would  be  probably  necessary  for  effective  operations 
after  Vicksburg  had  been  secured.  I  pointed  out 
that  in  this  case  Halleck  would  probably  be  against 
him  and  in  favor  of  giving  Grant,  who  was  already 
commanding  the  department  containing  the  base  of 
operations,  the  chief  command.  This  had  evidently 
not  occurred  to  him,  but  I  gave  him  my  views  frank- 
ly on  every  aspect  of  the  case  as  I  then  saw  it  be- 
cause he  asked  for  them.  He  did  not  tell  me  his 
final  conclusions  further  than  that  Stanton  as  well 
as  the  President  would  support  him,  and  with  that 
assurance  he  started  West  to  organize  the  new 
troops  and  complete  his  arrangements.  That  he 
finally  realized  that  Halleck  was  against  him  and 
would  probably  beat  him  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt.  Before  leaving  he  renewed  his  invitation 
that  I  should  go  with  him,  to  which  I  replied  that 
having  already  received  my  orders  to  report  to 
Grant,  I  could  not  ask  to  have  them  changed,  adding, 
however,  that  my  duty  was  to  go  where  I  was  or- 
dered, and  that  I  should  doubtless  be  on  the  ground 
when  he  got  there. 

During  our  conversations  he  explained  the  Presi- 
dent's disappointment  at  McClellan's  failure  to 
destroy  Lee's  army  at  Antietam,  and  to  follow  him 

121 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

up  promptly  after  his  retreat.  He  then  said  the 
President  had  early  made  up  his  mind  to  relieve 
McClellan  from  command  and  was  delaying  merely 
to  select  the  proper  general  as  his  successor.  Know- 
ing that  I  was  going  back  to  the  army  as  a  witness, 
he  specially  requested  me  to  give  McClellan  this  in- 
formation. I  was  asked  to  lay  before  him  the 
project  of  capturing  Vicksburg  and  operating 
eastward,  with  the  suggestion  that  he  should 
seek  for  the  united  command  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  and  with  the  assurance  that  the  entire 
military  strength  of  the  Northwest  should  be  at  his 
back. 

I  arrived  again  at  Pleasant  Valley  early  on  Oc- 
tober 16,  and  after  vainly  requesting  Colburn  of 
the  staff  for  an  interview  with  the  general,  I  met 
the  latter  shortly  afterward  by  chance  coming  from 
breakfast  to  his  tent.  Making  my  salute  and  re- 
ceiving a  polite  good  morning,  I  said  at  once:  "I 
am  just  up  from  Washington  and  have  a  message 
for  you. ' '  At  this  he  invited  me  into  his  tent,  where 
I  continued  without  further  preface: 

"General,  my  friend,  General  McClernand,  has 
requested  me  to  say  that  the  views  expressed  in  the 
conversation  he  had  with  you  while  here  a  few  days 
ago  are  in  every  way  confirmed;  you  are  to  be  re- 
moved from  command ;  the  authorities  are  only  wait- 
ing for  the  man,  and  General  Halleck  is  at  the  bot- 
tom of  it.  How  General  McClernand  knows  all  this 
he  said  it  was  not  necessary  to  state,  but  his  closing 
words  were:  '7  know  itV '  " 

To  this  McClellan  replied  without  apparent  emo- 
tion: 

"Yes,  I  expected  it." 

122 


INTERVIEW  WITH  McCLELLAN 

After  taking  a  seat,  I  pointed  out  briefly  on  the 
map  McClernand's  plan  of  operations,  adding: 

"In  view  of  the  importance  of  this  undertaking 
and  of  the  tenacity  with  which  Vicksburg  will  doubt- 
less be  defended,  the  vast  benefit  of  its  capture,  the 
conflicting  interests  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  aris- 
ing from  a  multiplicity  of  commands,  and  of  the  ab- 
solute necessity  that  all  the  military  operations  in 
that  theater  should  be  conducted  toward  the  achieve- 
ment of  the  one  grand  object,  General  McClernand 
thinks  you  should  seek  supreme  command  in  the 
West,  and  that  you  should  put  your  friends  to  work 
to  secure  it  for  you. ' '  I  added :  "I  think  they  could 
succeed  because  I  believe  the  administration  will  be 
willing  to  compromise  with  you  by  giving  you  this 
new  command.,, 

McClellan's  eyes  brightened,  and  instantly 
grasping  the  idea,  he  said: 

' '  This  is  a  suggestion  that  never  occurred  to  me. 
I  will  give  it  due  consideration,  but" — his  face 
growing  serious  again — "they  will  never  give  me 
such  a  command  if  they  remove  me  from  my  pres- 
ent one,  and,  indeed,  I  doubt  if  I  would  accept  any 
other.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  is  my  army  as 
much  as  any  army  ever  belonged  to  the  man  that 
created  it.  We  have  grown  together  and  fought 
together.  We  are  wedded  and  should  not  be 
separated.' ! 

To  this  I  replied: 

' '  Yes,  General,  but  your  friends  and  the  country 
regard  you  as  *  wedded '  to  a  higher  cause  than  that 
of  any  army — the  cause  of  the  country  and  of  the 
Union  under  the  Constitution.  They  will  expect 
you,  not  only  to  retain  your  commission,  but  to  ac- 

123 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

cept  any  service  offered  appropriate  to  your  rank. 
Moreover,  we  are  all  below  the  law  and  all  owe  the 
common  debt  of  military  service;  they  will  expect 
you  not  only  to  seek  command,  but  to  take  any  that 
may  be  offered  you.  Pardon  me,  General,  if  I  add 
— if  they  don't  give  you  an  army,  you  should  take 
an  army  corps  or  even  a  division.  If  they  will 
not  give  you  a  division,  were  I  in  your  place,  I 
should  ask  for  a  brigade.  If  they  deny  that,  I 
should  resign  and  go  back  to  my  state  and  raise  a 
regiment.  If  I  couldn't  get  a  colonelcy,  I  should 
take  any  other  position  open  to  me,  and  failing  a 
commission,  I  should  take  my  musket  and  go  out 
as  a  private  soldier.  If  you  act  on  that  principle, 
you  will  not  only  succeed,  but  you  will  be  the  next 
President  of  the  United  States !" 

In  reply  to  this  presumptuous  speech,  which 
certainly  arrested  his  attention  without  offending 
him,  he  thanked  me  for  what  I  had  said,  declared 
that  no  one  had  talked  that  way  to  him  before,  and 
assured  me  that  he  would  give  it  all  careful  consid- 
eration. We  then  fell  into  a  general  conversation, 
during  which  he  told  me  of  his  opposition  to  the 
division  of  his  army  into  army  corps  and  the  assign- 
ment of  commanders  before  they  had  developed 
their  merits.  He  explained  his  protest  against  the 
recall  of  his  army  from  the  Peninsula,  recounted 
the  important  services  it  had  just  rendered,  dwelt 
with  bitterness  upon  the  failure  of  the  staff  depart- 
ments to  send  him  the  supplies  which  were  neces- 
sary to  enable  him  to  continue  the  offensive,  and 
claimed  that  all  this  should  have  been  done  within 
a  week  after  the  battle  of  Antietam.  He  did  not 
fail  to  indicate  his  disappointment  at  the  lack  of 

124 


INTERVIEW  WITH  McCLELLAN 

zeal  on  the  part  of  Sumner,  Fitz-John  Porter,  and 
others,  nor  to  point  out  that  their  cases  fitly  illus- 
trated the  importance  of  promotion  to  high  com- 
mand for  military  merit,  vigor,  and  efficiency,  rather 
than  for  seniority. 

His  whole  attitude  was  undoubtedly  one  of  re- 
sentment and  animosity  against  the  government  and 
the  politicians.  Wrapped  in  the  mantle  of  his  own 
injuries,  he  had  no  word  for  the  country's  claims 
or  for  the  duties  of  the  hour.  He  thanked  me  for 
the  frankness  with  which  I  had  spoken,  and,  after 
asking  me  to  go  with  him  should  he  have  another 
assignment,  he  closed  the  conversation  by  saying: 

"Tell  my  friends  if  they  have  anything  to  com- 
municate to  me  to  do  it  by  a  personal  messenger  or 
by  letter  sent  by  private,  reliable  conveyance ;  trust 
nothing  to  the  mail — my  letters  are  opened  and 
read." 

This  interview  produced  a  lasting  impression 
upon  my  mind.  While  the  General's  self-poise 
was  remarkable  and  his  general  demeanor  that  of 
an  able  and  observant  man,  I  was  disagreeably  im- 
pressed by  one  peculiarity — that  of  smiling  spas- 
modically and  unmeaningly  after  each  important  or 
significant  remark.  Although  at  that  time  in  the 
full  vigor  of  middle  life,  firm  and  erect  in  bearing, 
handsome  of  eye  and  face,  deep-chested  and  strong- 
limbed,  well  set  up  and  well  clad  and  apparently 
in  perfect  health — the  beau  ideal  of  a  regular  sol- 
dier— he  did  not  impress  me  as  properly  loyal  to 
his  lawful  superiors,  nor  as  displaying  that  activity 
and  energy  of  mind  and  body  that  the  opportunities 
before  him  seemed  to  call  for.  He  was  polite  and 
considerate  and  went  so  far  toward  showing  his 

125 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

appreciation  of  my  frankness  as  to  ask  me  if  he 
ever  took  another  command  to  accept  a  place  on  his 
staff.  Of  course,  I  replied  to  him  as  I  did  to  Mc- 
Clernand,  though  I  had  little  expectation  of  ever  be- 
ing called  to  the  staff  of  either. 

Notwithstanding  its  interesting  and  unusual  fea- 
tures, my  visit  to  McClellan  was  far  from  reassur- 
ing in  any  respect.  In  addition  to  his  depressed 
frame  of  mind,  I  found  a  bad  state  of  feeling  among 
the  officers  of  his  staff,  three  of  whom  were  drinking 
heavily,  while  others  were  talking  both  loudly  and 
disloyally.  They  not  only  disapproved  McClellan 's 
removal,  which  was  felt  to  be  imminent,  but  openly 
denounced  the  President's  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion. Not  only  did  several  earnestly  advocate  Mc- 
Clellan's  resistance  to  the  order  relieving  him,  but 
one  man  declared  that  the  army  should  change  front 
on  Washington  and  that  when  it  arrived  there,  Mc- 
Clellan should  turn  the  government  out  and  take 
charge  of  both  civil  and  military  affairs  himself. 
While  this  was  merely  camp-fire  talk,  it  indicated 
bad  feeling  on  the  part  of  officers  who  should  have 
known  better.  It  culminated,  however,  in  a  way 
hardly  foreseen.  One  of  the  number  in  a  loud 
and  resonant  voice  declared  that  he  wouldn't  serve 
Lincoln's  abolition  government  any  longer,  but  in- 
tended to  send  in  his  resignation  and  go  home  at 
once.  Another  called  out:  "That's  the  talk!"  Still 
another  loudly  gave  his  approval,  whereupon  the 
only  Southerner  present,  Martin  of  Kentucky,  got 
up  and,  drawing  his  wallet  from  his  pocket,  ex- 
claimed: "I  am  tired  of  such  senseless  talk,"  and 
slapping  his  wallet  with  his  open  hand  added,  "I'll 
bet  fifty  dollars,  and  here's  the  money,  that  not  a 

126 


INTERVIEW  WITH  McCLELLAN 

d — d  one  of  you  ever  resigns  so  long  as  Uncle 
Abraham's  greenback  mill  keeps  grinding.  Now- 
put  up  or  shut  up!"  And  that  was  the  end  of  the 
seditious  talk  that  night. 

After  giving  my  testimony  before  the  court-mar- 
tial, I  returned  to  Washington,  feeling  depressed  if 
not  discouraged.  I  had  joined  McClelland  staff 
with  the  conviction  that  he  was  our  foremost  organ- 
izer, disciplinarian,  and  leader,  and  was  command- 
ing our  best-trained  veterans,  which  must  be  our 
main  dependence  for  putting  down  the  rebellion.  To 
that  general  and  that  army,  it  seemed,  we  must  look 
for  superior  genius,  strategy,  discipline,  fortitude, 
and  final  victory.  I  left  it  greatly  disappointed. 
While  I  was  far  from  despairing,  I  felt  sure  our 
triumph  over  the  Confederacy  would  be  delayed, 
and  when  it  did  come,  as  come  it  must,  it  would 
not  be  due  to  superior  generalship  and  discipline, 
but  rather  to  superior  resources  in  men,  money,  and 
determination — in  short,  "to  main  strength  and 
awkwardness I '  rather  than  to  geuius  and  strategy. 
I  realized  then  for  the  first  time  that  Gibbon,  the 
historian,  was  right  when  he  declared  that  "the 
great  battles  won  by  the  lessons  of  tactics  may  be 
enumerated  by  the  epic  poems  composed  from  the 
inspirations  of  rhetoric." 

With  combined  feelings  of  disillusionment  and 
hope,  I  reached  Washington  on  October  17,  and, 
after  giving  McClernand  a  full  account  of  my  inter- 
view with  McClellan  and  learning  that,  although  the 
formal  orders  for  his  Vicksburg  project  had  not  yet 
reached  him,  he  was  still  confident  of  receiving  them 
at  an  early  day,  I  got  my  traps  together  and  started 
north  four  days  later. 

127 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

Having  been  informally  authorized  to  visit  New 
York  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a  regiment  of  vol- 
unteers, before  going  west,  with  letters  to  Thurlow 
Weed,  at  that  time  the  political  boss  of  the  Empire 
State,  I  called  on  him  at  the  Astor  House  the  next 
day.  He  received  me  kindly  and  even  graciously, 
but  when  I  told  him  that  I  was  a  regular  army  man 
from  Illinois  under  orders  to  report  to  Grant  in 
the  west,  but  wanted  service  in  the  line  with  a  New 
York  volunteer  regiment,  he  grew  perceptibly  re- 
served. He  asked  my  age  and  rank,  and  inquired 
where  I  had  served,  and  after  intimating  that  he 
might  secure  the  position  of  major  or  even  lieu- 
tenant colonel  for  me,  he  added  frankly  that  the 
colonelcies  must  be  reserved  for  New  Yorkers.  From 
this  it  was  evident  that  I  could  expect  nothing 
from  him.  By  this  time  it  had  become  pretty  well 
known  that  the  War  Department  would  not  give  a 
regular  leave  of  absence  for  anything  less  than  the 
command  of  a  regiment,  which  accounts  for  the  high 
rank  I  was  seeking,  as  well  as  for  the  fact  that  I 
had  not  already  accepted  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
colonel  in  the  First  Delaware  Cavalry.  I  was,  how- 
ever, patient  and  waited  around  several  days  in 
hopes  that  I  might  find  an  opening,  but  in  vain.  The 
great  man  was  dignified,  considerate,  and  patroniz- 
ing. He  said  nothing  to  discourage  either  my  am- 
bition or  my  desire  for  service,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  each  interview  bore  it  in  upon  me  that  he  was 
considering  the  political  rather  than  the  military 
aspects  of  the  case.  As  I  was  interested  in 
the  military  rather  than  the  political  needs  of  the 
government,  and  as  my  education  and  my  experi- 
ence so  far  had  convinced  me  that  I  was  better 

128 


INTERVIEW  WITH  McCLELLAN 

prepared  than  any  civilian  for  the  command  of  a 
regiment,  I  was  not  long  in  reaching  the  conclusion 
that  I  should  hasten  to  my  new  field  of  duty.  I 
therefore  took  leave  of  the  distinguished  politician, 
with  deep  disappointment  and  with  the  feeling  that 
he  was  an  entirely  new  type  and  had  given  me  a 
new  point  of  view  from  which  to  regard  the  war  and 
the  organization  of  the  army.  Eeflecting  that  armies 
must  be  raised  as  well  as  instructed  and  commanded, 
I  made  my  way  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  the  south- 
west, resolved  to  earn  my  promotion  in  the  field 
rather  than  try  to  get  it  through  the  politicians 
and  their  influence. 


129 


ON    GRANT'S    STAFF 

West    Tennessee — Major   Wilson — Northern    Mississippi — 

Major  Rawlins — General  Grant — General   McPherson 

— First  service  with  Cavalry — True  line  of  Operations 

— Campaign  of  Vicksburg — Yazoo  Pass — Running  the 

Batteries. 

Although  I  hastened  west  my  troubles  were  not 
yet  ended.  With  delays  and  stop-overs  caused  by 
overworked  railroads  and  broken  connections  de- 
laying my  groom  and  horses,  as  well  as  myself,  I 
did  not  reach  Jackson,  Tennessee,  till  November 
7.  Almost  the  first  man  I  met  there  was  my 
brother  Henry,  who  had  left  West  Point  early  the 
year  before  to  help  raise  the  Eighteenth  Illinois 
Infantry  of  which  he  became  the  adjutant.  He  had 
already  been  promoted  to  captain  and  was  then 
serving  temporarily  on  General  Sullivan's  staff  in 
the  campaign  against  Forrest,  who  had  just  come 
on  the  stage  and  was  smashing  things  in  west  Ten- 
nessee. My  brother  had  taken  a  gallant  part  in  the 
capture  of  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson  and  in  the 
battle  of  Shiloh.  He  had  been  twice  wounded  and 
had  but  lately  returned  to  duty.  He  had  early  be- 
come known  to  the  leading  generals  as  an  active  and 
fearless  officer  and  an  excellent  drill-master  with  re- 

130 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

markable  presence  of  mind.  He  had  led  his  com- 
pany in  the  successful  charge  against  the  enemy 's 
works  at  Donelson,  had  been  shot  through  the  body, 
as  he  thought,  and  paralyzed,  had  been  pulled  to 
cover  under  the  hillside  he  had  just  surmounted,  by 
a  comrade  who  covered  him  with  a  blanket  and  left 
him  for  dead,  had  revived,  cut  a  crutch,  rejoined 
his  company,  and  fought  with  it  till  night  when  the 
bullet  was  cut  out  of  his  back.  Fortunately  it  had 
"gone  around,  not  through' 3  him.  At  Shiloh  he 
distinguished  himself  by  leading  his  men  to  the  cap- 
ture of  a  battery  and  by  turning  it  against  the 
enemy.  Having  been  drilled  for  a  year  at  West 
Point,  he  was  as  much  at  home  in  the  artillery  as  he 
was  with  the  infantry.1  While  working  the  captured 
guns,  one  of  his  gunners  thoughtlessly  dropped  an 
armful  of  shrapnel  near  the  muzzle  of  a  piece,  the 
flash  from  which  set  the  wrappings  on  fire.  Fear- 
ing an  explosion,  my  brother,  without  tremor  or  a 
moment's  hesitation,  seized  the  shell  and  hurled  it 
to  the  front  where  its  explosion  did  no  harm.  It 
was  in  allusion  to  this  and  other  gallant  feats  that 
General  Oglesby,  afterward  senator  and  governor 
of  Illinois,  said  with  an  emphatic  oath:  "Captain 
Wilson  was  the  bravest  man  I  ever  knew!" 

As  all  these  events  had  taken  place  since  I  last 
met  him  two  years  before  at  West  Point,  I  was  glad 
to  see  him  and  to  learn  through  him  something  of 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  I  was  about  to  join. 
He  afterward  took  a  gallant  part  in  the  campaign 
and  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  in  all  the  operations 
of  the  Thirteenth  Army  Corps  till  the  end  of  the 
war,  serving  in  turn  on  the  staff  of  Lawler,  Logan, 

1  O.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  X,  part  I,  pp.  121,  127,  129. 
131 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Washburn,  and  Steele,  but  when  he  was  promoted 
to  major,  he  returned  to  his  regiment  and  command- 
ed it  till  it  was  "fought  to  a  frazzle' '  and  finally 
mustered  out  at  the  end  of  the  war.  He  was  duly 
commissioned  both  lieutenant  colonel  and  colonel, 
but  owing  to  the  reduction  of  the  regiment's 
strength  and  to  the  failure  of  the  state  to  fill  it  with 
recruits,  he  was  never  mustered  into  the  service  on 
either  of  his  higher  commissions.  During  the  Vicks- 
burg  campaign  I  met  him  frequently  and  always 
learned  more  from  him  as  to  the  opinions,  conduct, 
and  point  of  view  of  the  enlisted  men  and  junior  of- 
ficers than  from  anyone  else.  For  his  high  courage 
and  cheerful  disposition  he  was  a  prime  favorite 
with  all.  He  survived  the  war  in  broken  health,  and 
was  finally  drowned  in  the  Ohio  Eiver. 

The  day  after  reaching  Jackson  I  went  to  La- 
grange, a  small  town  near  Grand  Junction,  close  to 
the  Mississippi  line,  where  I  found  Grant's  head- 
quarters, reported  for  duty,  and  was  promptly  an- 
nounced as  chief  topographical  engineer  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee.  A  day  or  two  later  Grant 
sent  me  as  chief  engineer  to  McPherson  whom  I  had 
left  in  Boston  the  year  before.  This  was  for  tem- 
porary duty  only.  I  have  always  thought  the  order 
was  suggested  as  much  by  the  desire  to  gratify 
McPherson  and  myself  as  by  the  actual  necessities 
of  the  case.  This  is  shown  by  the  following  extract 
from  a  note  written  by  McPherson  to  Eawlins : 

.  .  .  You  are  a  trump.  I  would  rather  have  Wil- 
son for  my  engineer  than  any  officer  I  know.  We  are 
old  friends — came  home  from  California  together  last 
fall     .     .     * 

10.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  17,  Part  2,  McPherson  to  Rawlins,  Oct. 
27,  1862. 


ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

My  first  meeting  with  Eawlins,  Grant's  adjutant 
general,  occurred  immediately  after  my  arrival  at 
Lagrange,  and  was  one  of  the  notable  events  of  my 
life.  On  entering  his  office,  I  found  him  alone,  busy 
at  his  desk.  After  announcing  myself  and  my  de- 
sire to  report  for  duty,  Rawlins  swung  round  from 
his  desk  and  said: 

1 '  General  Grant  is  absent  at  Memphis,  but  will  J 
be  back  shortly ;  I  'm  Major  Rawlins,  his  adjutant ;  I 
am  glad  to  see  you,  lieutenant;  d — d  glad  to  see 
you.  We've  been  looking  for  you  for  several  days. 
We  need  you  here.  I  know  all  about  you.  I  am 
from  Illinois,  as  you  are.  Your  grandfather  was 
my  friend  and  I  want  to  be  friends  with  you.  In- 
deed, I  want  to  form  an  alliance,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, with  you.  ■ ' 1 

This  warm  and  hearty  welcome  did  not  surprise 
me,  for  I  had  already  heard  Rawlins  spoken  of  as 
a  man  of  good  sense,  simple  manners,  and  great  in- 
dependence. His  frank  and  hearty  greeting  won 
me  at  once,  and  while  he  was  talking  with  such  un- 
usual freedom,  I  was  doing  my  best  to  gauge  him  and 
his  character.  He  interested  me  from  the  first  by 
his  steady  gaze,  his  strong  voice,  and  his  direct  and 
emphatic  speech.  He  treated  me  from  that  meet- 
ing with  as  much  frankness  and  confidence  as  if 
he  had  known  me  always.  He  was  then  about  thirty- 
two  years  old,  iive  feet  seven  inches  tall,  broad- 
shouldered,  stout-limbed,  and  of  strong  and  vigorous 
health.  With  jet  black  hair  and  brown  steady  eyes, 
swarthy  complexion,  fine  teeth,  a  firm  mouth,  and 
a  clear,  resonant  voice,  he  impressed  me  as  a  very 
earnest,  able  man,  so  entirely  concentrated  in  his 

1  Wilson's  "Life  of  John  A.  Rawlins,"  etc.,  p.  95. 

133 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

duties  that  he  gave  no  thought  to  conventionalities 
and  but  little  to  the  words  that  fell  from  his  lips. 
Having,  as  I  afterward  learned,  been  a  charcoal 
burner  till  he  was  twenty-three,  he  earned  the  money 
for  two  terms  at  the  Eock  Eiver  Seminary.  After 
that  he  studied  and  practiced  law,  became  city,  at- 
torney, and  a  candidate  for  the  electoral  college  on 
the  Douglas  ticket.  He  had  had  no  time  for  any- 
thing else  and  least  of  all  for  gathering  technical 
military  knowledge  or  preparing  himself  for  the 
military  calling.  He  had  won  Grant's  good  opin- 
ion as  a  citizen  and  patriot  by  his  impassioned  Union 
speech  at  a  Galena  mass-meeting  shortly  after  the 
Confederates  had  fired  on  Sumter.  He  had  then 
declared  himself  as  irrevocably  opposed  to  secession 
and  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  in  favor  of  the 
"Arbitrament  of  Arms!"  *  It  was  doubtless  because 
of  his  bold,  virile,  and  patriotic  character  that  Grant 
invited  him  before  all  others  to  become  a  member  of 
his  staff.  It  was  owing  to  these  qualities  and  to 
others  not  yet  developed  that  he  accepted  Grant's 
offer  and  thereafter  till  his  death  shared  his  for- 
tunes and  participated  in  his  promotions.  Even  at 
the  date  of  my  first  acquaintance  with  him,  Eaw- 
lins  understood  Grant's  strength  and  weakness  bet- 
ter than  anyone  else,  and,  to  use  Grant's  own  phrase 
a  year  later,  had  "come  to  be  more  nearly  indis- 
pensable to  him  than  anyone  else." 

While  Grant  was  absent  at  Memphis  there  was 
but  little  going  on  at  headquarters  and  Eawlins  evi- 
dently thought  it  a  good  opportunity  to  get  ac- 
quainted and  to  tell  me  about  Grant  and  his  army,  its 
campaigns,  its  leading  generals,  and  the  many  col- 

1  Wilson's  "Life  of  Rawlins." 
134 


ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

onels  of  note  serving  with  it,  about  the  staff  officers 
at  headquarters,  and  finally  about  even  the  com- 
manding general  himself  upon  whom  so  much  de- 
pended, and  about  whom  the  tongue  of  detraction 
had  already  had  much  to  say.  All  of  this  and  more 
he  developed  with  amazing  skill  and  comprehensive- 
ness. He  had  evidently  satisfied  himself  before  my 
arrival  from  McPherson  and  others  as  to  my  char- 
acter and  trustworthiness  as  well  as  to  my  sense  of 
discipline  and  my  earnestness  in  the  cause  which 
that  army  was  upholding.  Our  conversation 
took  a  wide  range  and,  long  before  it  was 
finished,  encouraged  him,  much  to  my  gratifica- 
tion, to  declare  that  he  wanted  "to  form  an  alliance 
offensive  and  defensive"  with  me.  He  frankly  con- 
fessed that  he  had  no  technical  knowledge  of  war, 
military  science,  or  military  administration,  and  as 
there  were  no  other  West  Point  men  on  the  field 
staff  and  but  few  in  that  army,  he  would  necessarily 
and  frequently  have  to  lean  not  only  upon  my  book 
knowledge,  but  possibly  upon  my  observation  and 
experience.  It  was  in  every  way  a  reassuring  re- 
ception, and  when  it  is  considered  that  although  I 
had  had  a  five  years '  course  at  West  Point  and  one 
year's  active  campaigning,  including  the  capture 
of  Port  Eoyal,  the  siege  and  reduction  of  Fort  Pu- 
laski, the  battle  of  Secessionville  in  front  of  Charles- 
ton, and  the  campaign  and  battle  of  Antietam,  and 
yet  was  only  a  first  lieutenant  of  Engineers,  it  will 
be  seen  that  I  had  good  reason  to  feel  flattered  by 
his  reception.  When  I  recall  the  fact  that  Grant 
on  his  return,  although  inclined  to  greater  reticence, 
received  me  with  the  same  cordial  and  hearty  wel- 
come, it  can  readily  be  understood  that  I  soon  felt 

135 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

I  had  done  well  in  casting  my  lot  in  with  him  and 
the  army  under  his  command. 

During  the  following  weeks  our  conversations 
continued,  and  eventually  we  touched  on  every  sub- 
ject connected  with  that  army.  Rawlins  impressed 
me  from  the  first  as  a  strong,  clear-headed,  fearless 
and  patriotic  officer,  thoroughly  devoted  to  his  chief 
and  to  the  Union  cause.  So  far  as  I  knew,  he  con- 
cealed nothing  from  me,  but  opened  his  mind  fully 
on  all  subjects  of  interest.  He  even  gave  me  an  es- 
timate of  the  staff  I  was  entering.  Theodore  S. 
Bowers,  his  assistant,  had  been  a  printer  in  my  na- 
tive town,  and  although  a  small  and  modest  man 
received  his  unqualified  commendation  for  clerical 
efficiency,  sobriety,  and  courage ;  but  several  aids-de- 
camp with  higher  rank  were  not  so  fortunate.  How 
they  had  got  on  Grant's  staff  he  never  explained; 
but  he  made  it  clear  that  they  were  rounders  with 
but  little  character  and  less  military  knowledge  or 
useful  experience.  He  intimated  not  only  that  their 
services  were  useless,  but  that  their  example  and 
influence  were  thoroughly  bad,  and  that  he  wanted 
my  help  to  get  rid  of  them. 

But  by  far  the  most  interesting  information 
Eawlins  gave  me  related  to  Grant  himself  and  to 
the  perils  by  which  he  had  been  surrounded  ever 
since  the  capture  of  Fort  Henry  and  Fort  Donelson. 
He  carefully  pointed  out  his  modesty,  his  good 
sense,  his  endurance,  and,  above  all,  his  sound  judg- 
ment and  unshakable  self-reliance  and  courage.  He 
dwelt  upon  his  thorough  knowledge  of  military  ad- 
ministration and  the  customs  of  service,  his  famil- 
iarity with  tactics  and  organization,  and  especially 
with  his  perfect  knowledge  of  the  supply,  subsis- 

136 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

tence,  and  transportation  departments.  In  reference 
to  these  things  there  was  no  uncertain  sound.  He 
evidently  considered  Grant  in  all  ways  easily  ahead 
of  the  best  of  his  subordinates,  and  yet  it  was  not 
difficult  to  perceive  that  his  mind  was  ill  at  ease. 
Indeed,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  refer  to  the  newspaper 
charges  against  Grant's  habits  as  a  matter  of  grave 
concern,  and  while  he  declared  that  they  were 
not  as  bad  as  either  the  newspapers  or  one  of 
his  ambitious  generals  had  made  them  out,  he  frank- 
ly confessed  that  there  was  enough  in  them  not  only 
to  make  his  true  friends  wish  there  were  less,  but 
to  do  all  in  their  power  to  "stay  him  from  falling". 
While  pointing  out  the  real  dangers  and  concealing 
nothing,  he  evidently  wanted  me  to  understand  them 
fully  in  order  that  I  might  do  my  part  to  nullify 
them.  He  dwelt  upon  the  fact  that  Grant  had  in 
no  case  neglected  his  duty,  nor  failed  to  drive  his 
advantage  home,  but  on  the  contrary  had  in  every 
instance  done  all  that  any  man  could  do  to  ensure 
success  and  to  prevent  disaster.  He  declared  that 
Grant  was  "a  good  man,  who  knew  his  business 
better  than  any  of  his  ambitious  subordinates  and 
that  we  could  win  with  him  if  the  government  would 
but  trust  him  and  let  him  alone.' '  On  another  oc- 
casion he  said:  "I  am  told  you  don't  drink,  but 
you  should  know  there  are  lots  of  men  in  this  army, 
some  on  Grant's  staff,  who  not  only  drink  them- 
selves but  like  to  see  others  drink,  and  whenever 
they  get  a  chance  they  tempt  their  chief,  and  I 
want  you  to  help  me  clean  them  out. ' '  And  it  was 
this  frank  and  unhesitating  confidence  which  Raw- 
lins reposed  in  me  that  sealed  our  friendship  and 
united  us  in  a  common  cause  as  long  as  he  lived. 

137 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Having  thus  given  me  completely  his  confidence 
I  naturally  drew  Rawlins  out  further,  as  opportu- 
nity offered,  in  regard  to  the  operations  from  Bel- 
mont to  Corinth.  His  opinions  were  favorable 
to  Grant  as  well  as  to  his  generals  and  his  troops. 
He  praised  them  all  with  discrimination,  except 
McClernand  and  Lew  Wallace.  He  even  praised 
McClernand  for  zeal  and  courage,  but  denounced 
his  ambition,  his  jealousy,  and  his  disposition  to 
intrigue  with  the  politicians  in  Washington.  But 
he  made  no  excuse  for  Lew  Wallace,  whom  he 
charged  with  having  been  a  laggard  in  the  Shiloh 
campaign,  and  emphasized  the  charge  by  an  account 
of  the  orders  he  had  personally  given  him  to  march 
to  the  battlefield.  He  praised  both  Sherman  and 
McPherson  as  brilliant  and  loyal  subordinates,  and 
fully  exposed  the  personal  peculiarities  of  the  offi- 
cers about  headquarters.  He  commended  Bowers 
and  Rowley  as  brave,  patriotic,  and  honorable  men 
with  whom  it  was  a  pleasure  to  serve.  He  regarded 
Hilyer  as  an  able  man  who  had  been  a  friend  of 
Grant  in  the  days  of  his  poverty,  but  doubted  his 
disinterestedness  as  well  as  his  honesty.  He  de- 
nounced Lagow  and  Riggin  as  triflers  out  of  their 
depth,  whose  services  were  worth  nothing  and  whose 
influence  was  wholly  bad. 

I  met  Grant  first  shortly  after  his  return  from 
Memphis,  and,  although  somewhat  disappointed  at 
his  simple  and  unmilitary  bearing,  his  friendly  wel- 
come won  my  heart  at  once.  He  was  at  first  some- 
what reserved,  but  as  we  fell  into  conversation  about 
the  Antietam  campaign  and  the  progress  of  the  war, 
east  and  west,  he  warmed  up  and  became  both  fluent 
and  interesting.    While  he  showed  but  little  of  that 

138 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

smartness  of  carriage  and  dress  and  none  of  that 
hauteur  or  affectation  of  rank  and  superior  knowl- 
edge which  were  so  noticeable  in  McClellan  as  well 
as  in  many  other  regular  army  men,  he  seemed  self- 
contained,  simple-minded,  and  direct  in  all  his 
thoughts  and  ways.  Putting  on  no  airs  whatever 
and  using  nothing  but  the  mildest  and  cleanest  lan- 
guage, he  treated  me  from  the  start  with  cordial- 
ity and  without  the  slightest  assumption  of  personal 
or  official  superiority.  As  I  afterward  learned,  this 
was  always  his  way,  and  while  he  invited  no  confi- 
dences, he  repelled  none,  and  thus  got  all  that  were 
worth  having.  Showing  no  sign  whatever  of  hard 
living  or  bad  habits,  he  produced  a  pleasant  but  by 
no  means  striking  impression  at  first.  With  what  I 
heard  from  others,  I  naturally  suspended  judgment, 
and  as  my  first  orders  were  to  join  McPherson  with 
the  right  wing  of  the  army  for  the  movement  about 
to  begin,  instead  of  to  settle  down  at  headquarters 
and  organize  my  branch  of  the  staff  service,  I  nat- 
urally got  the  impression  that  Grant  was  neither  a 
great  organizer  nor  much  of  a  theorist  in  military 
matters.  This  opinion  grew  gradually  into  a  settled 
conviction,  and  in  spite  of  his  great  achievements, 
which  were  won  mainly  by  attention  to  broad  gen- 
eral principles  rather  than  to  technical  details,  I 
have  never  had  occasion  to  materially  change  these 
earlier  impressions. 

By  Grant's  permission  I  remained  at  first  at 
headquarters  and  in  only  a  few  days  I  got  together 
a  force  of  civil  and  military  assistants  and  photog- 
raphers with  the  customary  outfit  for  gathering 
information,  surveying,  sketching,  and  mapping  the 
country.     As  this  required  close  attention,  I  saw 

139 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

but  little  of  Grant,  not  because  he  was  inaccessible 
or  offish,  but  because  he  appeared  to  take  little 
interest  in  this  work.  Eawlins,  whom  I  saw 
often  and  with  whom  my  intimacy  grew  apace, 
seemed  to  be  the  head-center  of  all  that  was 
going  on.  The  aids-de-camp  and  personal  staff, 
whom  I  came  gradually  to  know,  turned  out  to 
be  altogether  as  Eawlins  had  prepared  me  to 
find  them. 

Fortunately,  Grant  always  had  able  and  experi- 
enced supply  officers,  the  most  notable  of  whom  were 
Macfeeley,  chief  commissary,  and  Bingham,  chief 
quartermaster,  both  graduates  of  West  Point  and 
both  required  to  know  but  little  beyond  the  numbers 
of  the  troops  and  the  necessary  preparations  for 
their  subsistence,  equipment,  and  transportation. 
While  neither  of  those  officers  actually  joined  head- 
quarters till  the  Vicksburg  campaign  was  well  under 
way,  they  were  exceedingly  level-headed  men,  and, 
although  but  little  in  evidence,  they  always  per- 
formed their  complicated  and  widely  extended  duties- 
so  efficiently  and  so  silently  wherever  they  were  that 
no  one  ever  thought  of  going  hungry  or  unclad,  or 
even  of  asking  who  the  chief  commissary  or  the 
chief  quartermaster  was.  Grant  himself  had  had 
much  experience  in  those  departments  in  the  Mex- 
ican War  and  on  the  frontier,  and  gave  the  chiefs 
both  absolute  liberty  and  absolute  confidence.  Bing- 
ham was  too  dignified  and  too  serious  a  person  to 
be  treated  lightly,  but  the  chief  commissary,  while 
never  neglecting  his  business,  was  a  jolly  good  fel- 
low with  whom  Grant  never  lost  a  chance  to  crack 
a  joke.  His  favorite  one  was  to  call  him  Kobert 
"X."   Macfeeley  because,  as  he  laughingly  said, 

140 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

that  was  the  way  Macfeeley's  father  always  signed 
his  name. 

As  the  preliminary  movement  toward  central 
Mississippi  was  about  to  begin,  I  joined  McPherson 
on  November  16,  and  the  next  day  received  a  per- 
sonal note  from  Grant,  directing  me  to  go  with  an 
advanced  cavalry  reconnoissance  through  Eipley 
and  Oxford  in  the  direction  of  Grenada.  During 
the  trip  which  lasted  three  days  I  took  part  in  my 
first  cavalry  skirmish  and  charge.  Being  better 
mounted  than  anyone  else,  I  outstripped  my  com- 
panions and,  coming  up  with  the  flying  enemy,  emp- 
tied my  revolvers  and  captured  one  prisoner,  whom 
I  brought  in. 

On  our  way  back  with  all  the  horses  and  mules 
we  could  gather  in  the  country,  I  was  not  surprised 
to  see  that  our  Kansas  "  Jay-hawkers ' '  had  but 
little  respect  for  the  people  of  the  country  and  none 
for  their  property.  Just  outside  of  Ripley  I  saw 
a  trooper  carrying  a  Yankee  clock  and,  of  course, 
asked  him  where  he  got  it  and  what  he  was  going 
to  do  with  it.  He  replied  at  once:  "I  got  it  in 
town  and  I  am  going  to  take  it  to  camp  and  get  a 
pair  of  the  little  wheels  out  of  it  for  spur  rowels.' ' 
It  was  a  new  idea  to  me,  but  I  noticed  afterward 
that  many  cavalrymen  had  adopted  the  picturesque 
fashion;  and  it  was  more  or  less  in  vogue  till  the 
end  of  the  war. 

Although  ordered  sooner,  McPherson  did  not  ac- 
tually begin  his  forward  movement  till  November 
28.  The  winter  rains  had  already  set  in  and  the 
roads  of  unwrought  dirt  without  macadam  or 
metal  of  any  kind  were  already  getting  soft. 
The    trains    soon    cut    them    up    so    badly    that 

141 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

our  daily  progress  was  never  more  than  ten 
miles  and  frequently  less,  instead  of  twice 
as  much.  We  passed  slowly  through  Holly  Springs, 
Waterf ord,  and  Oxford ;  the  columns  encumbered  by 
heavy  trains  gave  plenty  of  time  for  straggling  and 
plundering,  both  of  which  were  new  and  discour- 
aging to  me  but  which,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  seemed 
to  have  already  become  the  habit  with  western 
troops.  Not  much  effort  was  made  to  stop  either, 
and  consequently  I  was  frequently  called  upon  by 
women  and  children  for  protection,  which,  as  far  as 
I  could,  I  freely  gave.  While  the  custom  of  living 
off  the  country  or  "making  war  support  war"  was 
not  yet  the  rule,  it  was  fast  becoming  the  practice  to 
take  everything  in  the  way  of  supplies  both  for  man 
and  beast.  Northern  Mississippi  was  at  that  time 
thinly  populated  and  extensively  covered  with  dense 
forests.  The  farms  and  villages  were  small  and 
the  masses  of  the  people  poor.  Of  course,  slavery 
prevailed,  but  only  the  richer  planters  of  the  Talla- 
hatchie and  Yazoo  bottoms  had  slaves  in  any  num- 
ber, and  yet  both  rich  and  poor,  as  far  as  I  could 
see,  were  secessionists  who  hated  Yankees  with  all 
their  might.  A  Union  man  was  hard  to  find,  while 
it  was  impossible  to  find  a  Union  woman.  But  it 
was  in  the  Mississippi  uplands,  with  their  twenty 
bushels  of  corn  and  two  hundred  pounds  of  cotton 
s  to  the  acre,  that  I  first  heard  the  phrase:  "This  is 
the  rich  man's  war,  but  the  poor  man's  fight." 

About  this  time  my  name  appeared  in  the  Chi- 
cago Tribune  as  assistant  inspector  general  of  the 
Tenth  Army  Corps,  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
colonel.  As  I  had  already  served  with  Hunter  and 
received  many  marks  of  his  favor,  I  was  not  sur- 

142 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

prised  at  the  announcement.  It  was  great  promo- 
tion for  me,  but,  of  course,  I  could  take  no  action  in 
regard  to  it  till  I  received  official  notice  from  the 
War  Department. 

Meanwhile  I  told  Grant  about  it,  adding  that  I 
could  not  afford  to  decline,  and  as  operations  were 
so  well  under  way,  I  should  leave  with  great  reluc- 
tance. He  replied  with  sympathy  and  good  feeling, 
but  agreed  with  me  that  I  could  take  no  action  for 
the  present.  Fortunately,  however,  while  Grant's 
army  was  working  its  way  painfully  toward  Oxford, 
in  the  absence  of  formal  orders,  it  was  both  my  duty 
and  pleasure  to  continue  with  it,  helping  wherever 
opportunity  offered,  which  was  generally  with  the 
cavalry  in  the  advance.  As  that  arm  was  green 
and  badly  organized,  I  volunteered  to  act  as  adju- 
tant to  Colonel  Dickey,  a  lawyer  and  afterward  a 
judge  of  the  Illinois  supreme  court,  who  was  the 
senior  officer  present.  He  had  his  own  regiment, 
in  which  I  had  some  time  before  been  offered  the 
position  of  lieutenant  colonel,  one  from  Iowa  under 
Hatch,  who  later  commanded  a  division  under  me, 
one  from  Michigan  under  Colonel  Mizner,  a  regular, 
and  one  from  Kansas  under  Colonel  A.  L.  Lee,  an 
original  '  1  Jay-hawker '  \  They  were  excellent  ma- 
terial, but  all  untrained  and  badly  deficient  in  dis- 
cipline. In  the  advance  they  did  well,  but  in  the  re- 
treat they  were  entirely  unmanageable.  The  jay-- 
hawkers  were  apparently  more  bent  on  plunder 
than  fighting.  The  entire  organization  was  lacking 
in  coherence,  cooperation,  and  steadiness.  When 
Van  Dorn  and  William  H.  Jackson,  a  few  days  la- 
ter, passed  around  Grant's  army,  capturing  his 
"rear  headquarters ' !  and  his  main  depot  of  sup- 

143 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

plies  at  Holly  Springs,  with  many  of  the  infantry 
garrison  which  should  have  defended  them,  Dickey's 
raw  and  undisciplined  cavalry,  instead  of  following 
and  harassing  the  enemy,  turned  tail  and  rejoined 
the  infantry  columns  as  soon  as  possible. 

While  the  capture  of  his  depots  was  commonly 
regarded  as  fatal  to  Grant's  campaign  and  as  hav- 
ing compelled  its  abandonment,  it  really  had  but 
little  effect  in  that  direction.  It  had  already  become 
apparent  that  a  campaign  in  midwinter  over  muddy 
roads  and  through  poor  country  was  not  feasible 
for  the  force  then  in  the  field.  With  a  single  line  of 
railway  several  hundred  miles  long  through  a  hos- 
tile region,  nothing  but  dirt  roads  to  march  on,  no 
bridge-train  and  many  swollen  streams  to  cross,  and 
with  the  farms  already  denuded  of  their  supplies 
for  men  and  animals,  the  least  experienced  officers 
soon  perceived  that  our  advance  into  central  Missis- 
sippi must  necessarily  be  so  slow  that  the  enemy 
would  have  ample  time  to  concentrate  a  larger  force 
against  us. 

I  not  only  pointed  out  all  this  to  Grant,  Mc- 
Pherson,  and  Eawlins,  but  I  also  undertook  to  show 
them  that  the  Mississippi  Kiver  itself  was  the  true, 
central,  and  only  feasible  line  of  operations  and  sup- 
ply for  an  army  large  enough  for  the  task  of  taking 
Vicksburg.  I  availed  myself  of  the  capture  of  Holly 
Springs  and  the  rupture  of  our  railroad  to  the  rear 
to  insist  upon  the  point  that  the  great  river  could 
neither  be  broken  nor  obstructed  north  of  Vicks- 
burg. 

But  this  was  not  all.  I  naturally  sought  the 
earliest  opportunity  to  tell  Grant  what  I  had  heard 
in  Washington  of  the  government's  real  plans  to 

144 


ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

capture  Vicksburg  and  open  the  Mississippi.  As  a 
staff  officer  it  was  my  duty  to  make  known  these 
plans  as  well  as  to  point  out  that  Vicksburg  was  the 
chief  strategic  center  not  only  in  his  department,  but 
in  all  that  theater  of  operations,  and  that  it  was  his 
right  and  duty  as  department  commander  to  com- 
mand all  the  troops  engaged  in  its  capture,  and  es- 
pecially to  take  charge  in  person  of  the  principal 
column  for  that  purpose. 

I  dwelt  on  McClernand's  intimacy  with  Lincoln, 
his  fellow  townsman,  as  well  as  on  the  favor  that 
he  was  supposed  to  enjoy  with  his  fellow  Democrat, 
Stanton;  I  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had 
not  only  been  sent  west  to  raise  new  troops,  but 
had  been  specially  authorized  to  organize  and  com- 
mand an  expedition  for  the  specific  purpose  of  cap- 
turing Vicksburg  and  opening  the  Mississippi.  In- 
asmuch as  these  facts  were  generally  known  to 
the  public  and  the  plans  for  carrying  them  out 
were  fast  taking  definite  shape,  I  urged  Grant  to 
give  up  the  campaign  by  land  and  go  in  person  with 
the  main  body  of  his  troops  down  the  river.  I  em- 
phasized the  fact  that  this  was  the  only  way  in  which 
he  could  save  himself  from  being  supplanted  by  a 
subordinate  and  confined  to  secondary  operations  in 
his  own  department,  and  fortunately  as  it  turned  out 
his  own  inclinations  were  in  accord  with  my  sugges- 
tions. But  before  taking  definite  action  he  com- 
municated with  Halleck  for  permission  to  go  with 
the  troops  of  his  own  department.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear that  Halleck  ever  discussed  the  question  of 
rank  or  priority  as  between  Grant  and  McClernand 
with  the  Secretary  of  War  or  the  President,  and  the 
probability  is  that  he  did  not,  but  decided  it  on  his 

145 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

own  responsibility.  He  thoroughly  knew  McCler- 
nand  as  well  as  other  leading  generals,  and  in  this 
instance  at  least  was  Grant's  real  friend.  Indeed, 
the  case  seemed  to  call  for  no  specific  orders,  for 
so  long  as  Grant  remained  in  command  of  the  de- 
partment to  which  he  had  been  assigned  by  the 
President,  he  was  both  by  precedent  and  the  customs 
of  service  at  full  liberty  to  direct  all  operations 
within  its  limits  and  to  accompany  such  movements 
as  he  might  think  of  sufficient  importance  to  require 
his  personal  supervision  and  presence. 

But  shortly  afterward  the  situation  was  still  fur- 
ther clarified  by  a  Presidential  order  dividing  the 
forces  of  the  department  into  four  army  corps,  the 
Thirteenth  under  McClernand,  the  Fifteenth  under 
Sherman,  the  Sixteenth  under  Hurlbut,  and  the  Sev- 
enteenth under  McPherson,  the  whole  constituting 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  under  Grant.  This  gave 
him  a  full  army  staff,  and  as  soon  as  the  facts  be- 
came officially  known  he  announced  Rawlins  as 
adjutant  general  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant  colonel. 
Establishing  headquarters  at  Memphis,  but  without 
delaying  to  perfect  his  organization,  he  proceeded 
on  January  16,  1863,  by  steamer  to  visit  that  part 
of  his  army  already  down  the  river.  He  took  Raw- 
lins and  me  with  him,  and  it  was  during  this  trip, 
which  lasted  four  days,  that  I  got  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  him.  He  treated  both  of  us  as  equals 
rather  than  as  subordinates.  He  acted  throughout 
with  a  simplicity,  modesty,  and  good  fellowship  that 
won  my  hearty  admiration,  friendship,  and  confi- 
dence. He  made  no  pretensions  to  superior  knowl- 
edge or  intelligence,  but  discussed  every  question 
with  us  as  though  we  were  as  old  as  himself  and 

146 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

without  the  slightest  reserve  or  assumption  of  su- 
perior knowledge.  Indeed,  his  only  thought  seemed 
to  be  to  concentrate  his  army  and  with  such  help  as 
we  could  give  him  to  find  a  practicable  line  of  oper- 
ations on  which  to  lead  it  to  victory. 

It  was  early  in  this  trip  that  he  turned  to  my 
case  and  disposed  of  it  as  far  as  rested  with  him 
in  a  most  satisfactory  way.  After  alluding  to  the 
orders  which  were  to  take  me  away  from  him,  he 
said  with  a  kindly  smile : 

"Wilson,  I  see  old  David  Hunter  and  go  him 
one  better.  He  has  made  you  lieutenant  colonel  and 
inspector  general  of  the  Tenth  Corps,  but  I  shall 
nominate  you  inspector  general  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee.  That  beats  him  and  you  will  remain 
with  us ! ' ' 

It  was  a  gratifying  coincidence,  but  neither  Grant 
nor  I  had  any  other  than  newspaper  knowledge  of 
the  fact  at  the  time  that  Hunter  had  formally  named 
me  as  early  as  January  20,  1863,  for  lieutenant 
colonel  and  assistant  inspector  general,1  and  whether 
this  was  deserved  or  not,  I  regarded  it  as  a  piece  of 
rare  good  fortune  that  my  first  year's  service  had 
won  me  the  confidence  of  two  such  men  as  Hunter 
and  Grant  with  promotion  at  their  hands  from  lieu- 
tenant to  lieutenant  colonel,  thus  giving  me  the 
choice  of  service  with  either  of  them. 

As  soon  as  we  got  back  to  Memphis,  where  I 
found  my  formal  order  to  report  to  Hunter,  Grant 
telegraphed  and  the  next  day,  January  23,  wrote 
to  Halleck  in  complimentary  terms  asking  again  for 
authority  to  retain  me.  From  that  letter  he  got  per- 
mission to  keep  me  " temporarily' '  if  I  was  actually 

1 0.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  XIV,  p.  392. 

147 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

engaged  in  " siege  operations",  but  it  was  not  till 
April  19,  at  Grant's  renewed  request,  that  Thom- 
as, the  adjutant  general  of  the  army,  then  with  us, 
issued  an  order  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  formally  transferring  me  from  the 
Tenth  Army  Corps  to  the  department  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, "to  fill  an  original  vacancy"  in  the  Inspec- 
tor General 's  Department. 

That  action  settled  it,  and  not  only  gave  me  all 
the  rank  and  pay  I  should  have  had  elsewhere,  but 
all  the  work  and  opportunity  a  soldier's  heart  could 
desire,  and  it  was  the  very  next  day  that  Rawlins 
assured  me  the  General  had  already  come  to  rely 
upon  my  military  judgment  more  fully  than  upon 
that  of  anyone  else.1  Thenceforth  I  am  sure  I  en- 
joyed his  full  confidence  in  every  professional  mat- 
ter from  military  engineering  to  the  daily  operations 
and  condition  of  the  troops  in  the  field,  and  in  con- 
firmation of  his  good  opinion  it  is  my  pleasant  duty 
to  add  that  I  had  even  more  encouragement  and 
commendation  than  I  considered  myself  entitled  to. 
My  relations  with  both  Eawlins  and  our  common 
chief  grew  more  and  more  intimate,  and  as  long 
as  we  served  together  we  were  as  three  men  with 
but  a  single  purpose. 

Among  other  questions  discussed  on  our  first 
trip  down  the  river  was  that  of  consolidating  the 
four  departments  in  the  Mississippi  valley  into  a 
single  military  division,  so  as  to  unite  and  utilize 

1  O.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXIV,  Part  III,  p.  132,  Grant  to  Admiral 
Porter,  March  23,  1863. 

.  .  .  "Col.  Wilson,  in  whose  judgment  I  place  great  reliance, 
writes  that  land  forces  cannot  act  till  the  batteries  are  silenced. 
He  thinks,  too,  that  there  has  been  unnecessary  delay  in  reaching 
that  point"  [Fort  Pemberton]. 

148 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

all  its  resources  in  the  great  undertaking  before  us. 
I  had  brought  the  subject  forward,  and  even  went 
so  far  as  to  point  out  that  the  Government,  if  it 
adopted  the  measure,  might  send  McClellan  or  some 
other  man  of  higher  rank  to  exercise  supreme  com- 
mand, but  this  did  not  appear  to  affect  Grant's 
views.  He  was  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  wis- 
dom and  importance  of  the  suggestion  that  he  di- 
rected me  to  draft  a  letter  to  Halleck  not  only 
covering  the  recommendation,  but  calling  special 
attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was  made  with  no  de- 
sire on  his  part  to  receive  the  chief  command.  This 
was  done  and  the  paragraph  with  no  essential  change 
was  incorporated  with  others  and  sent  to  its  des- 
tination shortly  after  our  return  to  Memphis.  It 
has  since  passed  into  the  official  records,1  but  it  is 
worthy  of  note  that  it  was  not  carried  into  effect 
till  after  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  when  the  defeat 
of  Chickamauga  made  the  measure  an  absolute  ne- 
cessity.2 By  that  time  Grant's  fame  had  become 
world-wide,  and  there  was  no  one  left  in  the  west 
to  dispute  the  honor  with  him.  McClernand  had 
eliminated  himself.  Eosecrans  had  not  only  suf- 
fered an  overwhelming  defeat,  but  had  been  swept 
from  the  field  with  the  right  wing  of  his  army.  Sher- 
man had  opposed  the  final  movement  which  led  to 
the  capture  of  Vicksburg.  McPherson  had  played 
his  subordinate  part  well  but  with  no  special  dis- 
tinction. Having  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class 
he  had  been  credited  by  the  West  Point  professors 
with  having  made  Grant's  plans  and  furnished  him 

*0.  R.  Serial  No.  36,  p.  8,  Grant  to  Halleck,  Memphis,  January 
20,  1863. 

2  "Diary  of  Gideon  Welles.1 ' 

149 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

with  brains  to  carry  them  out,  but  it  was  well  known 
in  the  army  that  this  claim  was  without  foundation 
in  fact. 

Thomas,  although  in  another  department,  was 
the  only  man,  except  Grant  himself,  connected  with 
the  western  armies  who  had  made  no  failures,  but 
when  Buell  was  relieved  from  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland,  Thomas  had  protested  so  strong- 
ly against  the  injustice  of  it  that  he  was  passed  over 
while  another  was  assigned  to  the  place.  This  ac- 
tion on  the  part  of  Thomas  had  been  looked  upon 
by  the  authorities  in  Washington  as  due  rather  to 
a  lack  of  self-confidence  than  to  modesty,  and  al- 
though the  lofty  Virginian  had  always  borne  him- 
self well  and  finally  won  the  proud  title  of  "The 
Rock  of  Chickamauga, ' '  it  was  left  to  Grant  sev- 
eral months  later  to  relieve  the  unfortunate  Rose- 
crans  and  put  the  successful  Thomas  in  the  place 
he  should  have  had  before.  And  yet  it  is  an  open 
secret  that  Grant  and  Thomas  never  became  close 
friends. 

But  to  return  to  the  Vicksburg  campaign.  The 
preliminary  movement  in  northern  Mississippi  hav- 
ing been  abandoned  and  the  first  advance  against 
the  principal  stronghold  itself  having  failed,  it' 
became  apparent  that  Grant  was  confronted 
by  a  problem  of  the  first  magnitude,  and 
that  it  would  require  all  the  troops  of  his 
department  and  all  that  could  be  drawn  from 
other  departments  to  enable  him  to  solve  it. 
Accordingly,  while  concentrating  his  army  at  the 
front,  he  bent  his  efforts  to  the  task  of  getting  a 
footing  for  it  on  the  high  land  east  of  the  Yazoo 
bottoms.    This  complicated  task  will  be  better  un- 

150 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

derstood  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  head  of 
the  Mississippi  delta  is  really  at  Cairo,  and  that  it 
gradually  widens  from  there  to  the  Gulf.  The  river 
itself  occasionally  reaches  the  bluffs  as  at  Memphis, 
Helena,  and  Vicksburg,  and,  as  the  banks  are  every- 
where subject  to  overflow,  the  H bottoms' '  are  cut 
up  by  bayous,  creeks,  and  lateral  rivers,  which  make 
it  entirely  impassable  during  freshets  and  most  dif- 
ficult even  in  the  dry  season.  There  are  no  graded 
roads  and  but  few  bridges,  and  as  the  Cold  Water 
and  the  Tallahatchie,  uniting  in  the  Yazoo,  were 
navigable  and  the  Yazoo  itself  still  wider  and  deep- 
er, military  operations  across  or  along  them  were 
so  difficult  and  so  slow,  and  the  obstacles  to  be  over- 
come so  formidable,  that  a  handful  of  rebels  were 
able  to  foil,  if  not  defeat,  many  times  their  own  num- 
bers. The  most  strenuous  effort  was  made  to  send 
an  army  through  the  Yazoo  Pass,  Moon  Lake,  the 
Cold  Water,  and  the  Tallahatchie  into  the  Yazoo 
River,  and  by  incredible  efforts  a  force  of  over 
twenty  thousand  men  were  within  reach  of  Fort 
Pemberton  at  the  head  of  the  Yazoo  when  they  were 
stopped  by  an  overflow  which  isolated  the  fortifica- 
tions. 

This  expedition  under  my  personal  supervision 
was  covered  by  a  detachment  of  light  iron-clads 
and  gunboats,  and  made  its  way  by  the  winding  riv- 
ers over  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  the 
overhanging  forest.  The  Yazoo  Pass  to  the  Cold 
Water  was  about  twenty  miles  long,  but  beyond 
Moon  Lake  it  was  so  narrow  that  the  enemy  cut  it 
full  of  forest  trees  from  the  banks.  Many  reached 
entirely  across  the  stream  and  many  others  were 
felled  diagonally  across  the  others,  so  that  for  miles 

151 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

there  was  an  entanglement  so  thick  the  troops  could 
cross  upon  it  from  bank  to  bank.  I  thought  at  first 
that  the  trees  could  be  trimmed  up  and  hauled  out 
by  block,  tackle,  and  capstan,  but  I  soon  found  that 
this  method  was  too  slow  and  that  as  fast  as  we 
cleared  out  the  obstructions  above,  the  enemy  made 
new  ones  below. 

The  next  plan  tried  was  that  of  hitching  steam- 
boat hawsers,  five  or  six  hundred  feet  long,  to  the 
ends  of  the  logs,  doubling  them  back,  and  then 
stringing  out  four  or  five  hundred  men  with  orders 
to  lay  hold  and  march.  This  plan  proved  entirely 
efficacious.  Trees  weighing  thirty  or  forty  tons, 
covered  with  spreading  limbs,  were  drawn  out  as 
fast  as  the  men  could  march.  The  working  parties 
were  multiplied  till  all  our  cables  were  in  "use,  and 
none  who  has  not  seen  it  can  understand  with  what 
speed  the  trees  were  drawn  out  and  the  pass  opened 
for  navigation.  The  combined  strength  of  a  full  reg- 
iment was  irresistible,  and  as  many  officers  and  men 
were  woodsmen,  they  soon  became  most  expert  in  the 
work.  Seeing  such  an  exhibition  of  strength  it  is 
easy  enough  to  understand  how  the  Egyptians 
moved  the  great  stones,  columns,  and  slabs  from 
the  quarries  to  their  temples  and  pyramids.  But 
while  the  troops  made  good  progress  in  the  daytime, 
it  was  impossible  to  get  the  gunboats  to  move  at  all 
at  night,  even  after  they  reached  the  open  river  be- 
yond the  obstructions.  The  consequence  was  that 
the  enemy  had  time  to  construct  and  arm  fortifica- 
tions at  the  head  of  the  Yazoo,  and  thereby  make 
our  entry  into  that  river  impossible.  One  of  our 
iron-clads,  after  getting  within  range,  was  disabled 
by  the  shot  of  a  heavy  gun  from  the  fort,  and  this 

152 


ON    GRANT'S    STAFF 

so  alarmed  the  naval  commander  that  he  refused  to 
push  others  to  closer  quarters  for  fear  that  they 
might  also  be  injured,  become  unmanageable,  and 
prove  a  total  loss.  The  expedition  was  therefore 
abandoned,  but  it  was  afterward  found  that  the 
enemy  was  out  of  ammunition  and  would  have  given 
up  his  works  had  our  ships  continued  their  attack 
even  at  longer  range.  This  is  one  of  the  best  illus- 
trations that  came  under  my  observation  during  the 
war,  that  it  is  always  better  to  continue  an  attack 
when  you  can  than  to  give  it  up  without  some  over- 
whelming necessity. 

One  of  the  leading  transports  in  the  operations 
on  Yazoo  Pass  was  the  river  steamer  Bill  Hender- 
son, commanded  by  Captain  Lamont,  an  alert, 
active,  and  resourceful  man,  full  of  patriotism  and 
courage.  His  first  pilot  was  one  Mark  Munday,  a 
cool,  nervy,  sensible  fellow,  always  ready  to  go  and 
never  afraid  to  express  his  opinions.  But  one  day 
in  the  midst  of  our  heaviest  work,  when  every  man 
was  doing  his  best,  Munday  said:  " Pardon  me, 
Colonel,  but  do  you  think  you  will  ever  get  the  rebels 
on  this  liner' 

I  replied:  "Munday,  I  can't  tell,  but  you  can 
rest  assured  we'll  do  our  best,  and  if  we  don't  get 
them,  we'll  keep  a  lot  of  them  mighty  busy  till  we 
find  out." 

Thereupon,  without  a  thought  of  impoliteness, 
he  said: 

"Colonel,  that  reminds  me  of  an  incident  which 
occurred  in  my  country  when  I  was  a  boy.  One  of 
our  neighbors  had  a  half-witted  son.  While  walking 
in  the  woods  one  day  this  boy  saw  a  little  gray  sap- 
sucker  hopping  up  the  side  of  a  tree,  and,  thinking 

153 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

he  would  like  to  have  it,  he  pulled  off  his  coat  and 
started  to  climb  the  tree  after  it.  As  he  neared  the 
bird  it  hopped  up  higher.  Finally,  the  boy  and  the 
bird  got  pretty  well  toward  the  top,  when  a  neighbor 
coming  by  called  out :  '  John,  what  are  you  doing  up 
there V  'Oh,'  said  John,  'I'm  trying  to  catch  this 
darned  thing. ' 

\\  'Why,  you'll  never  do  that  as  long  as  you  live.' 

"  'Well,'  said  the  boy,  'if  I  don't  catch  it,  you 
can  bet  your  life  I  '11  worry  it  like  hell. '  ' ' 

And  that  was  the  way  of  it,  not  only  on  that 
route  but  on  all  the  others  on  both  sides  of  the  riv- 
er, till  it  became  certain  that  no  land  route  could 
be  used  successfully,  and  that  there  was  nothing  left 
for  us  but  to  run  by  Vicksburg  with  the  gunboats 
and  transports  and  march  the  troops  by  the  west 
side  to  some  suitable  point  below  from  which  we 
could  ferry  them  to  the  east  side  of  the  river. 

In  front  of  Vicksburg  the  river  makes  a  great 
loop  to  the  Vicksburg  bluff,  and  from  the  year  previ- 
ous, when  Farragut  ran  by  the  place  from  below, 
before  it  was  heavily  fortified  it  was  commonly 
believed  that  a  canal  might  be  cut  across  the 
narrow  point  and  the  river  turned  through 
it  out  of  the  range  of  the  enemy's  heavy  guns. 
Indeed,  General  Williams  had  located  and  made 
a  tentative  but  ineffectual  cut  the  year  before, 
and  now  the  same  project  again  became  prominent. 
It  was,  however,  destined  to  final  failure.  From 
the  first  time  I  saw  it,  I  condemned  it  as  impracti- 
cable, contending  that  even  at  a  high  stage  of  the 
river,  the  water  would  not  flow  across  the  point, 
but  would  follow  the  canal  only  to  its  low  spoon-like 
axis  and  then  spread  out  into  the  country  back  of  it, 

154 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

unless  the  canal  were  made  deep  enough  to  take  in 
the  water  necessary  to  scour  it  to  a  navigable  depth 
at  a  medium  stage  of  the  river.  But  a  still  more 
fatal  objection  was  that  the  canal  pointed  to  the 
heights  just  below  the  city,  and  would  surely  be 
enfiladed  by  cannon  fire  from  batteries,  properly 
located  and  constructed  for  that  purpose.  Other 
canal  projects,  the  most  prominent  of  which  was 
that  through  Lake  Providence  to  connect  with  a 
series  of  bayous  west  of  the  river,  were  considered, 
but,  one  after  the  other,  all  were  abandoned.  The 
canals  could  not  be  made  wide  enough  or  deep 
enough.  The  bayous  were  too  narrow,  too  crooked, 
or  too  much  overhung  by  forest  trees,  or  the  Missis- 
sippi was  too  uncertain  in  its  rise  and  fall  to  give 
the  proper  volume  of  water.  I  gave  my  opinion 
against  them  one  after  the  other  as  they  were  pro- 
posed, but  they  were  all  tried  and  abandoned,  with 
no  actual  advantage  except  that  they  kept  our  troops 
occupied  and  the  enemy  more  or  less  worried  and 
apprehensive. 

On  the  day  Grant  and  his  staff  arrived  at  Milli- 
ken's  Bend,  he  invited  Sherman,  McClernand,  Mc- 
Pherson,  Blair,  Steele,  Eawlins,  and  myself  to  ac- 
company him  across  the  point  commanded  by  Vicks- 
burg.  I  had  been  sent  from  Memphis  several  days 
in  advance  to  look  over  the  ground  and  prepare  a 
report  for  the  General  on  his  arrival,  and,  of  course, 
had  been  active  in  gathering  information  and  study- 
ing the  situation. 

Eawlins  and  I  rode  together.  I  had  already  told 
Grant  that  the  old  canal  project  could  not  be  made 
successful  and  during  the  ride  repeated  this  opinion 
to  Eawlins  more  in  detail.    On  arriving  at  the  south- 

155 


UNDER   THE    OLD    FLAG 

ern  outlet  of  the  canal,  while  the  generals  were  gaz- 
ing at  the  heights  beyond  and  Frank  Blair  was  hold- 
ing forth  as  to  the  strategic  and  political  importance 
of  Vicksburg,  the  necessity  and  difficulty  of  its  cap- 
ture, and  the  certainty  that  whoever  controlled  it 
would  also  control  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Rawlins 
and  I  climbed  onto  the  butt  of  a  big  cottonwood, 
which  had  been  undercut  and  had  fallen  headlong 
into  the  river.  There  we  took  up  the  subject  in  all 
its  branches  and  aspects,  and  during  the  discussion 
I  pointed  out  that  there  were  only  three  possible 
plans  for  the  capture  of  the  stronghold,  namely: 

First,  to  turn  it  by  the  left  through  the  Yazoo 
River,  the  Sunflower,  or  the  Yazoo  Pass. 

Second,  to  make  a  direct  landing  against  the 
wharf  and  carry  it  by  escalade  or  coup  de  main,  or 

Third,  to  run  the  batteries  with  the  iron-clads, 
gunboats,  transports  and  barges  and  march  the 
troops  across  country  to  such  point  below  as  might 
be  selected  as  the  base  of  operations  against  the 
interior  of  the  state  and  the  defenses  of  the 
city. 

For  various  reasons,  all  the  plans  for  reaching 
a  footing  east  of  the  Yazoo  were  afterward  found 
to  be  impracticable  and  were  turned  down.  The 
second  was  dismissed  as  entirely  too  hazardous  for 
troops  no  better  trained  and  disciplined  than  ours, 
and  this  brought  us  to  the  third  plan.  Rawlins 
favored  it  strongly  from  the  first,  but,  recognizing 
its  boldness  and  realizing  that  in  case  of  failure  it 
might  lead  to  a  great  disaster,  he  asked  if  I  was 
sure  it  could  be  carried  out.  The  idea  that  the 
"tin-clad  gunboats' '  and  the  transports  with  their 
light    upper    works    would    be    destroyed    by    the 

156 


ON    GRANT'S    STAFF 

enemy 's  guns  was  in  his  mind,  and  he  at  once  asked 
why  this  would  not  be  fatal  to  the  plan. 

To  this  I  replied  that  most  professional  soldiers 
would  doubtless  hold  that  opinion,  but  I  had  come 
to  a  different  conclusion.  I  explained  that  I  had 
been  present  the  year  before  at  the  capture  of  Port 
Eoyal,  where  our  wooden  men-of-war  at  close  range 
had  engaged  the  enemy's  fortifications,  armed  with 
heavy  guns  on  both  sides  of  the  harbor,  for  the  bet- 
ter part  of  a  whole  day,  and  had  not  only  silenced 
them,  but  had  suffered  little  injury  with  trifling  loss 
of  life.  I  pointed  out  that  the  naval  vessels  had 
circled  around  the  harbor  between  the  forts  not  only 
once  but  several  times  in  broad  daylight,  engaging 
them  almost  muzzle  to  muzzle  first  on  one  side  and 
then  on  the  other,  and  that  the  result  had  shown 
that  such  operations  were  much  less  dangerous 
than  they  were  commonly  believed  to  be.  I  declared 
that  the  only  way  to  stop  them  would  be  by  torpe- 
does and  mines,  and  that  such  devices  could  not  be 
kept  in  place  in  the  swift  current  of  the  Mississippi. 

We  not  only  considered  the  suggestion  from 
every  point  of  view,  but  we  considered  and  con- 
demned the  proposition  which  was  already  gaining 
currency,  that  the  army  might  have  to  abandon  the 
campaign  against  Vicksburg  and  unite  with  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland  on  the  Tennessee  Eiver. 
While  this  proposition,  or  one  something  like  it, 
was  conceded  to  be  sound  enough  as  a  measure  of 
strategy  after  everything  else  had  been  tried,  it  was 
actually  advocated  by  Sherman  and  perhaps  others. 
Eawlins  and  I  concurred  in  condemning  it  for  the 
present  as  likely  to  be  fatal  to  Grant  and  sure  to 
be  greatly  discouraging  to  the  country.    Before  we 

157 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

got  back  to  our  steamboat,  Eawlins  said :  i  i  Wilson, 
I  believe  you  are  right,  and  I  shall  advise  Grant  to 
carry  your  plan  into  effect  at  once. ' ' 1 

That  afternoon  I  was  sent  to  lead  the  expedition 
through  Yazoo  Pass,  Moon  Lake,  the  Cold  Water, 
and  the  Tallahatchie  into  the  Yazoo.  Having  out- 
lined the  history  of  that  movement,  which  at  one 
time  seemed  almost  certain  to  succeed,  I  need  not 
dwell  further  upon  it.  But  its  failure  and  sequel 
are  important  in  connection  with  what  Rawlins  told 
me  had  taken  place  during  my  absence. 

On  the  evening  of  my  departure  the  principal 
generals  dined  with  Grant,  and  at  dinner  the  prob- 
lem confronting  the  army  came  up  again  for  discus- 
sion. Every  suggestion,  no  matter  who  made  it,  re- 
ceived consideration,  but  none  promised  immediate 
or  absolute  success.  The  meeting  was  about  to  break 
up  without  a  satisfactory  solution,  when  Rawlins 
said :  ' \  Wilson  and  I  have  a  plan  for  taking  Vicks- 
burg  none  of  you  have  referred  to  yet." 

"What  is  it,  Rawlins — what  is  it?"  said  Sher- 
man. 

"Oh,  you  will  condemn  it  as  too  dangerous," 
said  Rawlins. 

"Never  mind  that,  let  us  have  it,"  said  Sher- 
man. 

Whereupon  Rawlins  explained  my  proposition 
to  run  the  batteries  under  cover  of  darkness  with 
the  gunboats  and  transports  and  march  the  troops 
below  by  land,  to  the  first  feasible  crossing. 

As  Rawlins  had  predicted,  Sherman  at  once  and 
with  emphasis  declared:    "It  can't  be  done.    It  is 

1  Compare  my  letter,  Jan.  18,  1862,  to  Pelouze  A.  A.  G.,  O.  R. 
Series  1,  Vol.  VI,  p.  219. 

158 


ON    GRANT'S    STAFF 

impracticable.  The  transports  will  be  destroyed. 
The  enemy's  guns  will  sink  them  or  set  them  afire." 
And  that  settled  it  for  the  time  being,  for  although 
Rawlins  gave  the  reasons  clearly  and  emphatically 
for  the  faith  that  was  in  us,  no  one  came  to  his  sup- 
port. Even  Grant  kept  silent,  though  he  tells  us 
clearly  enough  in  his  memoirs,  written  many  years 
afterward,  that  it  was  his  purpose  from  the  first 
to  carry  that  plan  into  effect  if  the  others  failed. 

Neither  McClernand  nor  McPherson  had  a  word 
to  say  in  favor  of  running  the  rebel  batteries,  al- 
though it  is  possible  that  McClernand  might  have 
had  an  idea  from  the  first  of  turning  Vicksburg  and 
then  operating  eastward  from  it  as  a  base  against 
the  heart  of  the  Confederacy. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  plan  made  its  way 
slowly  and  it  was  not  till  all  side  operations  through 
the  Yazoo  basin  for  getting  a  footing  on  the  uplands 
of  Mississippi  had  failed  that  serious  attention 
was  given  to  its  execution,  the  essence  of  which  was 
running  the  batteries  with  the  transports.  Mani- 
festly all  canal  projects  and  bayou  routes  on  either 
side  of  the  river  had  for  their  immediate  object  the 
avoidance  of  the  enemy's  heavy  guns  on  the  Vicks- 
burg bluffs,  which  were  regarded  as  fatal  to  this 
plan,  and  it  was  not  till  each  and  every  other  had 
actually  failed  that  the  simple  and  only  feasible  plan 
was  openly  adopted  and  successfully  carried  into 
effect. 

No  one  can  say  with  absolute  certainty  just  when 
it  first  received  Grant's  approval,  but  it  is  certain 
that  he  did  not  tell  either  Rawlins  or  me  that  he 
was  going  to  carry  it  into  effect  till  he  told  us  he 
was  going  to  ask  Admiral  Porter,  the  naval  com- 

159 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

mander,  to  lead  the  transports  with  a  section  of 
his  fleet  by  the  batteries  under  cover  of  darkness. 
Even  then  both  he  and  Porter  thought  it  prudent 
to  divide  their  fleets  and  try  it  with  a  part  before 
risking  the  whole,  and  this  was  done. 

That  the  plan  had  its  first  suggestion  as  de- 
scribed above,  three  or  four  months  before  it  was 
undertaken,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  nor  is  there  any 
doubt,  even  after  it  was  fully  under  way,  that  Sher- 
man thought  it  too  hazardous  and  tried  to  dissuade 
Grant  from  carrying  it  out.  Not  only  did  he  write 
Rawlins  a  letter  to  that  end,1  but  he  personally 
asked  me  to  join  in  advising  Grant  to  give  up  the 
plan,  recommending  that  he  should  withdraw  the 
army  from  the  neighborhood  of  Vicksburg,  and 
transfer  it  by  way  of  Memphis  to  northern  Missis- 
sippi. 

Sherman  was  earnest  and  impassioned  in  sup- 
port of  his  views.  He  quoted  Jomini  in  favor  of  the 
policy  of  concentration.  He  pointed  out  the  danger 
of  cutting  loose  from  our  base,  and  dwelt  upon  the 
danger  of  the  enemy's  concentrating  first  against 
Grant,  and,  after  using  him  up,  turning  against  Rose- 
crans.  But  while  all  this  was  in  accordance  with 
the  books  and  the  precedents,  I  declined  to  give  it 
my  support.  I  felt  that  Grant  was  at  last  on  the 
right  road,  that  he  could  surely  break  into  the 
enemy's  country  with  a  united  and  efficient  army  of 
forty-five  thousand  men,  that  he  would  be  able  to 
scatter  Johnston's  forces  and  beat  them  in  detail 
before  they  could  be  concentrated  or  strongly  re- 
enforced,  and  that,  above  all,  any  proposition  on 
Grant's  part  to  withdraw  from  the  front  of  Vicks- 

V 'Sherman's  Memoirs,"  Vol.  1,  p.  343. 
160 


ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

burg  at  that  stage,  however  sound  in  theory,  would 
certainly  be  looked  upon  by  the  country  as  a  sign 
of  weakness  and  failure,  which  would  result  not 
only  in  his  being  relieved  from  command,  but  in 
scattering,  disintegrating,  and  paralyzing  his  army. 
After  giving  Sherman  these  views  as  forcibly 
as  I  could,  I  returned  to  headquarters,  and  discussed 
the  subject  anew  with  Rawlins  and  Dana,  the  lat- 
ter of  whom  had  joined  us  only  a  few  days  before 
as  "the  eyes  of  the  Government".1  Fortunately, 
both  fully  approved  my  conclusions  and,  as  the  cam- 
paign was  under  way  with  every  prospect  of  success, 
they  suggested  that  neither  of  us  should  say  a  word 
to  Grant  as  to  Sherman's  state  of  mind,  and,  so 
far  as  I  know,  it  was  not  till  Sherman's  letter  of 
remonstrance  reached  him  that  Grant  realized  how 
fully  his  oldest  corps  commander  was  opposed  to 
his  final  plan.  My  conversation  with  Rawlins,  how- 
ever, prepared  him  to  advise  Grant,  when  Sher- 
man's letter  came  to  hand,  to  lay  it  away  unan- 
swered for  the  present. 

Before  leaving  this  episode,  it  may  be  well  to 
allude  again  to  Sherman 's  statement  of  fundamental 
principles,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  fol- 
lowing September  the  Confederate  Government,  by 
detaching  Longstreet  from  Virginia  and  gathering 
up  all  the  garrisons  in  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  in- 
cluding Grant's  Vicksburg  prisoners,  and  sending 
them  to  reenforce  Bragg,  inflicted  a  great  and  al- 
most fatal  defeat  upon  Rosecrans  at  Chickamauga. 

Here  it  should  be  remarked  that  Sherman  would 
have  been  as  sound  in  practice  as  he  was  in  theory 
if,  instead  of  making  his  fruitless  campaign  into 

1  Wilson  'a  * '  The  Life  of  Charles  A.  Dana, '  *  p.  208  et  seq. 
161 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

central  and  eastern  Mississippi  after  the  fall  of 
Vicksburg,  he  had  advised  Grant  to  send  him  at  once 
or  to  go  in  person  with  two  army  corps  to  reenforce 
Rosecrans.  This  measure  could  have  been  carried 
out  easily  in  the  three  months  otherwise  wasted,  not 
only  to  save  that  general  from  defeat,  but  to  turn 
his  campaign  into  a  great  success,  but  neither  Sher- 
man, Grant,  nor  anyone  in  Washington  seems  to 
have  seen  the  danger  or  to  have  thought  of  averting 
it  till  far  too  late.  And  this  is  the  way  in  which 
war  on  a  grand  scale  is  frequently  conducted  by 
even  the  best  generals  and  the  most  capable  admin- 
istrations. It  well  illustrates  the  fact  that,  in  modern 
days,  the  true  principle  is  not  only  to  outnumber 
the  enemy  at  the  vital  point  at  the  vital  time,  but, 
if  possible,  to  greatly  outnumber  him  at  all  the  im- 
portant points  all  the  time ! 

As  the  event  showed,  running  the  Vicksburg  bat- 
teries, April  16,  1863,  was  a  bloodless  and  compar- 
atively simple  operation.  Although  the  enemy's  fire 
was  terrific  and  the  river  was  lighted  up  by  burning 
buildings  on  the  shores,  the  six  iron-clads,  one  ram, 
and  one  tug  received  no  damage  whatever,  and  of 
three  river  steamers,  one  was  abandoned  through 
cowardice  and  by  accident  burnt,  while  one  was  dis- 
abled in  her  machinery  so  that  she  had  to  be  towed ; 
but  even  in  that  way  she  was  still  entirely  efficient 
as  a  transport.  Of  the  next  detachment  a  few  nights 
later,  all  passed  through  unscathed,  thus  verifying 
my  prediction  that  not  more  than  one  in  ten  would 
be  destroyed  in  running  the  batteries.  With  that 
danger  past,  although  it  was  incurred  again  on  a 
smaller  scale  a  few  days  later  at  Grand  Gulf,  the 
campaign  became  a  simple  one  which  developed  rap- 

162 


ON    GRANT'S    STAFF 

idly  and  successfully  according  to  the  usual  practice 
of  war. 

On  the  night  of  the  first  passage  Grant  with  his 
staff  and  family  moved  down  the  river  on  his  head- 
quarters steamboat  to  a  favorable  point  of  obser- 
vation just  beyond  the  range  of  the  enemy's  guns 
and  witnessed  the  whole  extraordinary  pageant. 
The  fleet  started  after  dark,  between  nine  and  ten 
o'clock,  but  before  it  got  abreast  of  the  enemy's 
guns  all  engines  were  stopped  and  all  lights  con- 
cealed, and  for  a  few  minutes  it  was  hoped  that  the 
rapid  current  might  carry  the  boats  by  unperceived, 
but  this  hope  was  fallacious.  By  the  time  they  were 
abreast  of  the  upper  part  of  the  bend,  where  the 
river  was  narrowest,  the  enemy  discovered  them 
and  opened  fire  upon  them  with  all  the  guns  they 
could  bring  to  bear.  A  small  outhouse  near  the 
water  was  set  on  fire,  lighting  up  the  whole  river 
and  the  opposite  shore.  The  roar  of  the  heavy  guns 
both  from  the  batteries  and  the  fleet  was  incessant 
and  impressive,  but  without  starting  the  engines  the 
fleet  drifted  by  and  out  of  danger,  lighted  in  its 
lower  course  by  the  transport  which  had  been  set  on 
fire,  abandoned  by  the  crew,  and  burned  to  the 
water's  edge. 

It  was  an  anxious  hour  for  all,  and  especially  for 
me.  It  was  a  brilliant  moonlight  night,  and  during 
the  firing  the  point  opposite  the  front  of  the  city,  as 
well  as  the  surface  of  the  river,  in  this  bend  only 
eight  hundred  yards  wide,  were  further  lighted  up 
by  the  burning  buildings  on  the  banks.  The  roar 
of  the  enemy's  heavy  guns,  twenty-five  in  number, 
from  six-inch  to  ten-inch  caliber,  was  deafening, 
and  the  whole  scene  was  grand  and  awe-inspiring. 

163 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG     . 

One  of  the  Grant  children  sat  on  my  knees  with  its 
arms  aronnd  my  neck,  and  as  each  crash  came,  it 
nervously  clasped  me  closer,  and  finally  became  so 
frightened  that  it  was  put  to  bed.  Mrs.  Grant  sat 
by  the  General's  side  with  the  other  children  near, 
while  the  staff  and  clerks  looked  on  in  silence  and 
wonder,  if  not  in  doubt.  It  was  not  till  after  mid- 
night that  the  roar  of  artillery  ceased  and  silence 
rested  on  the  scene,  and  it  was  not  till  the  next 
morning  that  the  details  became  fully  known.  Field 
telegraphs  for  military  purposes  had  not  come  into 
use,  and  telephones  were  not  yet  known.  The  only 
communication  was  by  courier,  and  the  facts  had 
to  be  gathered  twelve  miles  below  as  the  crow  flies 
before  they  could  be  sent  overland  to  headquarters. 
But  the  couriers  were  too  slow  for  Grant.  He  had 
been  under  a  crucial  strain  and  could  get  no  relief 
except  by  riding  across  the  bends  to  New  Carthage 
in  person  for  a  conference  with  both  Porter  and  Mc- 
Clernand.  The  round  trip  was  nearly  seventy-five 
miles,  or  a  full  day's  ride  each  way,  and  he  glad- 
dened my  heart  by  taking  me  with  him.  The  ride 
south  took  much  of  the  day,  which  we  devoted  to 
conversation  about  the  prospect  our  easy  success 
had  opened  up.  We  passed  the  evening  and  such 
part  of  the  night  as  was  necessary  in  gathering  the 
particulars  about  running  the  batteries  and  pro- 
viding for  further  movements.  With  this  done,  the 
next  day  we  rode  back  to  headquarters,  discussing 
the  details  of  carrying  forward  the  campaign  now 
open  to  us.  I  counseled  Grant  again  to  give  up  all 
work  on  canals  and  bayous  as  not  only  slow  and  fa- 
tiguing, but  useless.  The  feasibility  of  running  by 
the  batteries  having  been  demonstrated  beyond  fur- 

164 


ON    GRANT'S    STAFF 

ther  question,  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  send  the 
entire  available  force  down  country  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  and  this  was  fully  decided  upon  while  sup- 
plies were  left  to  follow  by  the  river  as  needed. 

Immediately  after  returning  to  headquarters 
Grant  obtained  the  order  transferring  me  to  his 
staff,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  and  told  Eawlins  that  he  depended  more  upon 
my  judgment  on  military  matters  than  upon  that  of 
any  one  else  in  that  army. 

Shortly  before  running  the  batteries,  Lorenzo 
Thomas,  the  adjutant  general  of  the  army,  arrived 
at  Milliken's  Bend,  and  began  the  organization  of 
negro  troops.  As  he  was  not  long  in  learning  that 
the  enrollment  and  use  of  negroes  on  an  equality 
with  white  troops  was  not  favorably  regarded  in  that 
army,  he  took  an  early  occasion  to  explain  in  a  pub- 
lic address  the  Government's  policy  in  respect  to 
that  important  matter,  and  in  doing  so  declared  that 
he  was  authorized  to  remove  any  one,  high  or  low, 
who  should  at  any  time-  or  in  any  way  oppose  or 
obstruct  this  policy,  and  that  he  should  not  fail  to 
exercise  his  authority.  Sherman,  McPherson,  Blair, 
Logan,  and  other  leading  officers  were  present  and, 
while  they  had  so  far  favored  restricting  the  use  of 
negroes  to  teamsters  and  laborers  in  the  field  or  at 
most  to  the  organization  of  heavy  regiments  for 
depot  and  garrison  duty,  they  at  once  yielded  their 
own  sounder  views  and  gave  a  ready  assent  to  the 
new  policy  as  announced  by  Thomas. 

This  speech  attracted  much  attention  at  the  time, 
and  its  boldness  of  tone  may  have  strengthened  the 
impression,  which  first  got  abroad  when  Dana 
joined  the  army,  that  either  he  or  Thomas  might 

165 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

have  authority  to  relieve  even  Grant  and  put  Mc- 
Clernand  or  some  one  else  in  the  place.  It  was  a 
long  distance  from  Washington,  and  there  was  but 
little  communication  from  the  army  with  that  place. 
Grant  was  but  a  poor  correspondent  at  best,  and 
till  Dana  began  sending  his  remarkable  letters  to 
Stanton,1  there  was  more  or  less  uncertainty  prevail- 
ing as  to  the  significance  of  two  such  influential 
agents  of  the  War  Department  at  the  front.  Spec- 
ulation was  rife  and,  although  so  far  both  Dana  and 
Thomas  expressed  nothing  but  the  most  friendly 
feeling  toward  Grant,  even  Grant  himself  was  not 
altogether  sure  of  his  position  till  he  reached  Smith's 
plantation  near  New  Carthage,  and  began  to  see  his 
way  to  a  firm  footing  on  the  east  side  of  the  Great 
Eiver. 

The  passage  of  the  batteries  by  the  gunboats  and 
transports  instantly  cleared  the  situation.  Canals 
and  bayous  were  no  longer  necessary,  and  although 
the  river  was  high  and  New  Carthage  could  not  be 
reached  from  the  levee  at  the  lower  end  of  Bayou 
Vidal,  except  by  boat,  all  became  hopeful  of  getting 
forward  with  but  little  further  delay.  Fortunately 
it  was  believed  that  the  river  was  at  its  highest,  and 
that  any  change  in  the  stage  of  the  water  must  be 
for  the  better.  Accordingly,  as  soon  as  we  arrived 
at  Smith's  plantation,  Grant  directed  me  to  find  a 
boat  and  take  him  to  Porter's  flagship,  some  three 
miles  below.  Having,  with  but  little  delay,  secured  a 
skiff  and  crew  of  plantation  negroes,  we  set  out  with 
General  Thomas,  making  our  way  through  the  over- 
flowed bottom  by  a  tortuous  creek  to  the  river,  and 

1  Dana  'a  ' '  Eecollections  of  the  Civil  War. ' '    D.  Appleton  &  Co., 
1898. 

166 


ON   GRANT'S    STAFF 

thence  down  stream  to  the  Admiral's  flagship.  The 
conference  lasted  several  hours  and,  although  night 
had  come  on  and  the  Admiral  was  most  pressing  in 
his  hospitality,  Grant  resolved  to  return  to  his  own 
headquarters  at  the  plantation.  Porter,  finding  that 
he  could  not  detain  his  guests,  insisted  upon  giving 
him  a  naval  cutter  and  crew  for  the  return  trip.  It 
was  arranged  that  I  should  lead  the  way,  with  our 
own  boat,  which,  so  long  as  we  were  in  the  open 
river,  was  plain  enough.  But  in  spite  of  the  current 
and  the  night,  dark  as  Erebus,  my  boat  made  the 
better  speed,  and  by  the  time  we  turned  into  the 
creek  Grant's  was  out  of  sight  behind.  Supposing 
that  he  or  Thomas  had  not  paid  sufficient  attention 
to  land-marks  to  follow,  I  pushed  through  the  tor- 
tuous creek  and  overhanging  trees  with  a  heavy  rain 
falling  and  a  boundless  expanse  of  water  on  all  sides, 
and  reached  headquarters  at  10  p.  m.,  believing  that 
Grant  would  arrive  in  a  few  minutes.  After  wait- 
ing over  half  an  hour  in  vain,  Eawlins  and  I  became 
alarmed  and  I  set  out  again  in  search  of  him.  In 
such  darkness  and  such  a  waste  of  water  almost 
any  accident  was  possible,  and  hence  I  encouraged 
my  crew  to  put  forth  their  best  efforts.  Thirty 
minutes  brought  us  to  the  open  river  and,  with  its 
swifter  current  behind  us,  a  few  more  brought  us 
to  the  first  gunboat.  Going  on  board  to  make  in- 
quiry, I  found  the  missing  party,  much  to  my  grati- 
fication, enjoying  the  hospitalities  of  the  captain. 
The  general  seemed  glad  to  see  me.  His  naval  crew 
had  been  unable  to  follow  and  had  lost  their  way. 
Fearing  he  might  have  to  wander  around  all  night 
if  he  persisted  in  trying  to  find  his  own  way,  he 
decided  to  return  to  the  fleet  and  wait  till  morning, 

167 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

but  soon  as  he  saw  me  he  expressed  his  desire  to 
return,  and  in  the  same  order  as  before  we  set  out 
for  the  second  time.  By  an  hour  and  a  half 's  hard 
rowing  and  careful  piloting  we  reached  headquar- 
ters at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  where  the  ever- 
vigilant  Kawlins  was  waiting  impatiently  to  receive 
us.  Accustomed  as  I  had  been  to  boating  in  the  high 
water  of  the  Ohio  in  my  boyhood,  I  thought  but 
little  of  the  adventure  at  the  time,  but  it  is  easy  to 
see  now  that  had  the  general's  cutter  been  capsized, 
rowed  as  it  was  by  a  crew  of  landsmen  unused  to 
such  navigation,  nothing  could  have  saved  him  from 
drowning. 

Withal,  the  incident  was  somewhat  exciting  to 
those  immediately  concerned.  The  greater  power 
and  width  of  the  Mississippi  at  flood,  the  somber 
blackness  of  the  night,  made  still  blacker  by  the 
overhanging  forest  standing  in  a  waste  of  water,  the 
flash  of  lightning  and  the  downpour  of  rain,  with 
no  noise  but  the  rattling  and  dipping  of  our  oars 
or  the  distant  hooting  of  an  owl,  gave  interest  and 
emphasis  to  the  real  danger  which  surrounded 
Grant  and  his  army  in  every  stage  of  that  most  re- 
markable campaign.  They  well  illustrate  the  diffi- 
culties which  accompanied  every  movement  in  the 
Yazoo  and  Louisiana  bottoms,  and  show  how  im- 
perative it  was  that  they  should  gain  a  footing  on 
the  uplands  east  of  the  great  river. 

My  journal  of  those  days  contains  many  notes 
showing  the  difficulties  of  the  march  by  the  banks 
of  Vidal,  Negro,  Mound,  Gilbert,  and  Brushy  bayous 
to  the  Mississippi  levees  below  Vicksburg.  The 
whole  face  of  the  country  was  under  water.  Hav- 
ing no  pontoon  train,  the  advance  of  the  army,  with 

168 


ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

no  boats  except  the  flats  gathered  from  the  various 
plantations  and  no  bridge  materials  except  such  as 
we  obtained  by  tearing  down  plantation  houses,  the 
forward  movement  might  well  have  been  stopped  at 
the  very  outset.  With  troops  less  capable  and  com- 
manders less  resolute  and  resourceful,  we  might 
well  have  been  beaten  before  getting  within  reach 
of  the  enemy.  But  there  was  neither  delay  nor  the 
thought  of  it.  Three  floating  bridges,  each  over 
three  hundred  feet  long,  were  built  of  flatboats  and 
gin-house  timbers,  and  in  a  few  days  we  opened  a 
practicable  road  crossing  bayous  and  threading  one 
of  the  most  difficult  regions  that  ever  tested  the  re- 
sources of  an  army.  When  it  is  remembered  that 
those  bridges  were  built  by  green  volunteers,  who 
had  never  seen  a  bridge  train  nor  had  an  hour's 
drill  or  instruction  in  bridge-building,  some  concep- 
tion may  be  had  of  the  quality  of  the  men  and  offi- 
cers who  carried  through  that  remarkable  work. 

Having  given  careful  instructions  for  each  bridge 
as  I  came  to  it,  I  left  the  details  to  my  assistants, 
and  under  Grant's  personal  orders  J  crossed  the 
Mississippi  with  a  regiment  of  infantry  and  made  a 
reconnoissance  of  the  country  between  the  mouth 
of  the  Big  Black  and  Warrenton,  for  the  purpose  of 
seeing  whether  or  not  we  could  find  a  landing  on  the 
east  bank  from  which  we  could  reach  the  rear  of 
Vicksburg  along  the  peninsula  between  the  two  riv- 
ers. But  in  this  region  as  well  as  in  that  west  of 
the  river  the  bottoms  were  several  miles  wide  in 
places,  and  everywhere  so  much  overflowed  that  it 
was  impracticable  to  get  to  the  highlands  through 
them.  During  this  reconnoissance  I  visited  i  l  Congo ' ' 
plantation,  where  I  found  the  negroes  in  great  ex- 

169 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

citement  trying  to  remove  their  master's  stock  and 
household  effects  to  the  highlands.  It  was  here  that 
a  negro  shoemaker,  calling  himself  Mason  Jones, 
put  himself  under  my  protection  and  insisted  upon 
becoming  my  body  servant.  As  he  proved  himself 
to  be  faithful  and  intelligent,  I  took  him  with  me 
everywhere  till  the  end  of  the  war,  and  then  sent 
him  to  Illinois,  where  his  family  joined  him  and  be- 
came good  and  prosperous  citizens.  It  was  he  who 
cautioned  me  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  to  take  care 
of  myself,  just  after  a  cannon  shot  had  knocked  over 
our  dinner  and  scattered  our  campfire,  for  "if  you 
get  killed,  gen'al,  I  can't  stay  in  dis  war  nohow !" 
And  it  was  his  wife,  Aunt  Patsy,  whose  son  "  Ital- 
ian' '  got  into  a  neighborhood  difficulty  which  in  her 
words  "came  mighty  nigh  gettin'  us  all  into  de 
circus  co'te." 

But  the  most  important  discovery  from  the  recon- 
noissance  at  the  Congo  plantation  was  that  it  as- 
sured us  we  could  not  reach  the  highlands  be- 
tween Vicksburg  and  Grand  Gulf,  but  would  have  to 
run  the  batteries  at  the  latter  place  and  look  for  a 
landing  farther  down  the  river.  Although  Porter 
declined  to  enter  the  Big  Black  with  his  boats  as  I 
suggested,  he  undertook  to  silence  the  batteries  at 
Grand  Gulf,  on  the  understanding  when  that  was 
done  that  Grant  should  land  a  force  and  "take  the 
place  by  assault".  While  Grant  was  dubious  as  to 
the  result,  he  agreed  to  the  proposition,  but  after 
five  hours'  bombardment  in  which  all  the  fleet  took 
a  gallant  part  and  not  a  single  hostile  gun,  in  the 
proper  sense  of  the  term,  was  disabled  or  silenced, 
the  attempt  was  abandoned  and  we  were  again  face 
to  face  with  running  the  batteries.     By  this  time 

170 


ON   GRANT'S   STAFF 

Rawlins  and  I  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
should  be  no  more  delay  for  reconnoissance  or  bom- 
bardment, and  that  we  should  not  only  run  the  bat- 
teries again,  but  continue  on  down  the  river  as  far 
as  Rodney  if  necessary.  From  all  the  information 
we  had  we  felt  assured  that  we  should  find  neither 
guns  nor  rebel  troops  at  that  place,  but  an  open  road 
to  the  interior.  With  this  assurance  we  urged 
Grant  to  cut  loose  with  all  the  force  the  transports 
could  carry  and,  at  the  first  landing  on  the  east  side, 
to  swing  out  into  the  open  country  toward  Jackson 
without  waiting  for  the  rest  of  the  army  to  join 
him.  This  was  agreed  to.  The  gunboats  and  the 
transports  passed  the  batteries  this  time  entirely 
without  injury,  and  when  an  intelligent  contraband 
informed  us  that  there  was  a  high- water  landing  and 
road  at  Bruinsburg  only  ten  miles  below  by  which 
we  could  reach  the  highlands  dry-shod,  we  embarked 
the  troops  and  made  for  that  place.  It  required  a 
good  deal  of  resolution  and  steadiness  of  purpose 
to  adopt  that  course.  Our  advanced  division  com- 
mander had  begun  to  criticize  and  grumble,  and  al- 
though I  reported  this  to  Grant,  it  not  only  did  not 
shake  his  resolution,  but  made  him  all  the  more  de- 
termined to  push  into  the  interior  from  the  first 
hard  ground  he  could  reach.  Fortunately  the  ad- 
vance troops  reached  the  landing  at  an  early  hour 
and  found  it  to  be  good;  the  road  was  dry  and  the 
defile  through  the  hills  a  mile  back  was  undefended. 
At  last  the  way  into  the  interior  was  open,  and 
thenceforth  the  only  question  was  to  get  the  troops 
across  the  river  and  push  them  forward  as  fast  as 
possible,  to  make  good  the  footing  thus  offered  us 
after  four  months  of  incredible  labor. 

171 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Grant  and  his  staff,  leaving  their  own  baggage, 
horses,  and  camp  equipage  behind,  slept  on  board 
the  steamboat  on  which  they  crossed  the  river  on  the 
last  day  of  April.  I  occupied  a  pile  of  rope  on  the 
gnnboat  Benton,  and  was  awake  at  the  break  of 
day.  Hearing  the  booming  of  distant  cannon,  I  bor- 
rowed a  horse  for  Grant  and  another  for  myself 
from  Colonel  Mudd's  Illinois  Cavalry,  and  by  7 
a.  m.,  May  1,  we  were  on  the  Bruinsbnrg  road  to 
the  front. 


172 


VI 


CHIEF    TOPOGRAPHICAL    ENGINEER    AND 
INSPECTOR  GENERAL 

Bruinsburg  —  Port  Gibson  —  Raymond  —  Jackson — Cham- 
pion's  Hill — Big  Black  Bridge — Assault  on  Vicksburg 
—General  Lawler — Sergeant  Griffith — General  Mc- 
Clernand — Charles  A.  Dana. 

The  story  of  the  campaign  from  Bruinsburg  to 
Jackson  and  from  Jackson  to  the  rear  of  Vicks- 
burg, with  its  masterly  combinations  and  rapid 
marches,  its  notable  victories  at  Port  Gibson,  Eay- 
mond,  Jackson,  Champion's  Hill,  and  the  Big  Black; 
the  capture  of  the  state  capital;  the  destruction 
of  the  railroads  which  centered  there ;  and  finally  the 
investment  and  capture  of  Vicksburg  with  its  gar- 
rison of  thirty  thousand  men,  July  4,  1863,  consti- 
tutes the  most  brilliant  chapter  in  our  military  an- 
nals. It  has  been  told  many  times  before  and  re- 
quires no  repetition  to  bring  it  to  the  student's 
mind.  From  the  time  Grant's  army  crossed  the 
Mississippi  at  Bruinsburg,  sixty-five  miles  below 
Vicksburg,  on  April  30,  till  it  shut  Pemberton  and 
his  army  up  inside  their  fortifications,  was  just 
twenty  days,  and  from  the  time  the  siege  began  till 
it  ended  on  July  4,  when  the  garrison  marched  out 
and  stacked  its  arms,  was  just  forty-five  days  more. 

173 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

Nothing  like  this  surrender  had  ever  taken  place  on 
this  continent,  and,  coming. as  it  did  on  the  heels  of 
the  great  battle  of  Gettysburg,  fought  at  almost 
the  same  time,  it  marked  not  only  the  high  tide,  but 
the  beginning  of  the  end  of  the  Great  Eebellion. 

Throughout  this  campaign  Grant  remained  the 
same  modest,  unassuming  and  self -poised  man  that 
he  had  shown  himself  to  be  in  the  Tennessee  cam- 
paigns. He  put  on  no  airs  and  made  no  show  of 
rank  or  superior  authority.  With  a  borrowed  horse, 
no  servant,  and  literally  no  baggage  but  a  tooth 
brush,  he  gained  the  first  battle  at  Port  Gibson, 
and  concentrated  his  army  near  Hankinson's  Ferry 
on  the  Big  Black,  ready  to  advance  either  against 
Vicksburg  or  the  capital  of  the  state.  Eiding  in- 
cessantly for  the  first  three  days  and  most  of  the 
nights,  he  gave  a  splendid  example  of  just  how  a 
general  should  bear  himself  in  an  active  and  suc- 
cessful campaign. 

During  the  battle  of  Port  Gibson,  which  was 
fought  mostly  by  McClernand's  corps,  Eawlins  and 
I  thought  it  a  good  time  to  bring  about  a  rapproche- 
ment between  Grant  and  his  lieutenant.  To  that 
end  we  asked  Grant  to  ride  over  and  thank  him 
for  his  good  conduct  and  brilliant  success,  but,  much 
to  our  surprise,  he  declined  to  do  so,  saying  that 
McClernand  had  offended  him  seriously  by  asking 
permission  to  delay  the  crossing  till  Governor 
Yates  of  Illinois  could  review  the  troops,  and,  as 
if  that  were  not  enough,  had  that  morning  violated 
orders  by  encumbering  his  column  with  wagons 
which  should  have  been  left  at  the  river  during 
the  preliminary  movements.  Finally,  while  the  ac- 
tion was  still  under  way  and  the  result  yet  unset- 

174 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

tied,  Grant  sent  instructions  to  the  artillery  to  har- 
bor its  ammunition,  on  hearing  which,  McClernand 
ordered  it  to  continue  firing,  loudly  declaring  that 
he  had  fought  the  battle  so  far  and  fought  it  well, 
and  would  not  be  interfered  with  by  anybody.  Of 
course,  the  officer  who  carried  Grant's  order  re- 
ported what  McClernand  had  said  and  naturally 
this  did  not  mend  matters.  In  other  words,  the 
cocky  corps  commander,  relying  upon  his  under- 
standing with  the  Washington  authorities,  as  be- 
fore explained,  regarded  himself  in  a  measure,  if 
not  entirely,  independent  of  the  army  commander 
and  acted  not  only  that  day  but  throughout  the 
campaign  as  though  Grant's  presence  and  his  ex- 
ercise of  authority  on  the  battlefield  were  in  viola- 
tion of  his  own  privileges  and  rights.  He  was  nat- 
urally a  proud,  austere,  and  imperious  man,  who 
took  but  little  pains  to  conceal  his  feelings  and 
acted  always  with  noticeable  reserve  and  hauteur 
toward  Grant.  How  far  he  presumed  in  his  own 
mind  upon  Grant's  good  nature  or  upon  his  reserve 
and  self-control,  as  indicating  a  lack  of  self-respect 
and  firmness,  cannot  be  known,  but  if  he  expected 
to  profit  by  the  course  he  adopted  he  was  inexcus- 
ably at  fault. 

Shortly  after  this  incident,  as  Osterhaus  and 
John  E.  Smith  were  about  to  make  the  final  attack 
against  the  enemy,  Governor  Yates,  who  was  still 
with  the  army,  joined  us  at  the  edge  of  the  battle- 
field. He  was  a  breezy,  picturesque,  and  gallant 
gentleman,  and,  like  the  leading  politicians  of  the 
day,  was  always  on  the  lookout  for  an  opportunity 
to  attract  public  attention.  As  the  battle  was  clearly 
going  our  way,  it  evidently  struck  him  that  it  of- 

175 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

fered  him  an  unusual  chance  for  distinction.  Bid- 
ing alongside  of  me,  he  said:  "Colonel,  I  believe 
I'll  put  myself  at  the  head  of  one  of  our  Illinois 
regiments  and  lead  it  into  action.  Don't  you  think 
that  would  be  a  good  thing  to  do?" 

Although  the  proposition  was  both  novel  and 
unnecessary,  it  struck  me  rather  favorably  and  in 
a  tone  half  jocular  and  half  serious,  I  gave  it  my 
approval  and  advised  him  in  words  which  Grant 
afterward  made  famous — to  "go  in ! ' '  Almost  im- 
mediately the  action  became  hot  and  I  lost  sight 
of  the  Governor,  without  knowing  whether  he 
had  gone  in  or  gone  out.  It  so  happened  that 
I  did  not  meet  him  again  till  the  next  day  on  the 
march,  when  he  said  with  an  air  of  evident  satis- 
faction: "Well,  Colonel,  I  am  mighty  glad  I  didn't 
go  in  with  the  boys  yesterday  afternoon,  for  those 
devilish  rebels  might  have  killed  me!" 

The  effort  that  Eawlins  and  I  made  on  this  oc- 
casion to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  be- 
tween Grant  and  McClernand  was  not  only  firmly 
rejected  by  Grant,  but,  as  it  turned  out,  it  was 
followed  by  a  determination  on  his  part  to  keep  a 
close  watch  and  a  steady  hand  over  his  self-consti- 
tuted rival.  From  that  day  forth  Grant  not  only 
maintained  the  most  formal  attitude  toward  Mc- 
Clernand, but,  so  far  as  practicable,  refrained  from 
meeting  him  in  person  or  giving  him  written  or- 
ders. His  general  practice  was  to  send  me  with 
discretionary  authority  to  see  that  he  did  the  proper 
thing  in  cooperation  with  the  commanders  who  were 
entitled  to  great  confidence.  But  even  this  was  not 
always  effective. 

At  Champion's  Hill,  where  McClernand  a  few 

176 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

days  later  had  the  chance  of  a  lifetime,  he  was  so 
slow  and  cautions  that  he  did  practically  nothing. 
Hovey,  who  commanded  one  of  his  divisions,  got 
on  his  own  account  a  prominent  place  in  the  battle, 
while  A.  J.  Smith  was  detached  to  operate  under 
Grant's  immediate  orders.  Logan  did  well,  as  usual, 
while  Osterhaus',  Carr's,  and  Smith's  divisions, 
later  under  McClernand's  personal  command,  let 
pass  a  great  opportunity  to  destroy  Pemberton's 
army  by  striking  it  heavily  on  the  right  and  rear, 
while  the  rest  of  the  army  was  attacking  in  front. 
Two  or  three  orders  were  given  to  put  these  divi- 
sions in,  but  in  vain. 

Again,  at  Big  Black  Bridge,  Lawler's  brigade 
of  Carr's  division  played  a  most  gallant  and  suc- 
cessful part,  but  it  was  solely  on  Lawler  's  initiative. 
That  officer  was  a  very  remarkable  volunteer  tac- 
tician, an  ex-captain  of  the  Mexican  War,  a  plain 
Illinois  farmer  all  his  life,  with  a  fine  literary  taste, 
and  a  most  gallant  bearing.  But,  withal,  he  was  a 
man  of  no  pretensions  either  in  manners  or  dress. 
His  favorite  uniform  was  a  blue  flannel  shirt,  on 
which  he  tacked  his  shoulder  straps,  and  he  was 
of  such  ample  proportions  that  he  always  wore  his 
sword  hung  by  a  strap  over  his  shoulder.  For  some 
unknown  reason  Dana  always  called  him  ' '  The  High 
Dominie  Dudgeon",  and  the  flash  of  wit  and  poetry 
between  them  when  they  met  was  always  most  en- 
tertaining.1 On  the  occasion  referred  to  I  met  Law- 
ler and  my  brother  Bluford,  his  adjutant,  on  the 
field  in  their  shirt  sleeves,  wet  with  perspiration 
and  covered  with  dust,  but  both  leading  their  men 
gallantly  against   the  enemy.     Their   success  was 

1  Wilson's  "Life  of  Charles  A.  Dana,"  p.  225  et  seq. 
177 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

all  their  own,  and  neither  had  nor  needed  super- 
vision from  those  in  higher  authority.1 

It  was  of  this  quaint  and  fine  old  soldier  that 
General  Grant,  during  the  Chattanooga  campaign, 
while  praising  several  Illinois  generals,  said: 

"But  when  it  comes  to  just  plain  hard  fighting 
I  would  rather  trust  Old  Mike  Lawler  than  any  of 
them." 

Lawler,  although  a  man  of  Falstaffian  girth,  was 
a  strictly  temperate  man,  a  devout  Catholic,  and 
as  imperturbable  under  fire  as  any  "Ironsides." 
When  asked  to  take  a  drink — not  at  all  an  unusual 
occurrence  in  the  army — his  invariable  reply  was: 
"No,  thank  you!  I  have  a  brother,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  who  drinks  enough  for  both  of  us." 

To  a  profane  member  of  his  staff  during  the 
fighting  days  at  Vicksburg,  who  was  loudly  violating 
the  third  commandment,  the  General  said:  "I  am 
astonished  to  hear  you  praying  at  this  time.  I  al- 
ways say  my  prayers  before  going  into  battle.  ■ ! 

To  my  brother  Bluford,  who  in  his  first  battle 
at  Champion's  Hill  unconsciously  dodged  the  sing- 
ing rifle  bullets,  he  sang  out:  "You  d — d  little 
fool,  don't  dodge!  Don't  you  know  when  you  hear 
the  bullets  they  have  already  gone  by ! "  Whether  it 
cured  the  Captain  of  the  habit  I  don't  know,  but 
Lawler  himself  always  "stood  four  square"  to  all 
the  breezes  that  blew. 

In  going  to  the  front  one  morning,  while  passing 
another  command  on  the  march,  a  soldier  was  over- 
heard to  say  to  his  comrade:  "Bill,  who  is  that 
old  tub  of  guts?    I'd  hate  to  be  in  his  place.    He 

10.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXIV,  Part  II,  pp.  133-143,  Lawler  >s 
report.     Also  Part  I,  p.  618,  Carr's  report. 

178 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

won't  last  a  minute  under  fire."  Lawler  instantly 
said  to  the  member  of  his  staff  riding  next  to  him : 

"Huh!     D d  fool!     I  could  lose  two  or  three 

beefsteaks  off  my  anatomy  and  not  be  hurt!"  A 
fact  which  he  had  demonstrated  at  Donelson,  where 
he  was  badly  wounded  but  did  not  leave  the  field. 

A  few  days  later,  May  22,  in  the  general  assault 
on  the  enemy's  fortifications  surrounding  Vicksburg, 
Lawler 's  brigade,  alone  of  the  entire  army,  carried 
a  substantial  part  of  the  works  in  its  front.  Sergeant 
Griffith,  Twenty-second  Iowa,  with  a  handful  of  men, 
broke  through  the  enemy's  line  into  a  salient  redan, 
capturing  it  and  its  guns  for  a  time,  but  he  had  not 
sufficient  force  without  instant  support  to  follow  up 
his  success.  As  the  support  was  not  forthcoming, 
the  sergeant  and  his  men,  after  sending  their  pris- 
oners one  by  one  to  the  rear  and  holding  on  under 
cover  till  night,  withdrew  to  their  own  side  of  the 
works.  Griffith,  a  fine,  hearty  Iowa  lad  of  great 
courage,  became  a  popular  hero  and  was  at  once 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  Shortly  after- 
ward General  Grant  designated  him  for  appoint- 
ment as  cadet  at  West  Point.  Although  full  of  dev- 
iltry, which  he  displayed  whenever  occasion  offered, 
once  climbing  into  the  Academic  Building  and  ab- 
stracting the  examination  programs  for  the  benefit 
of  his  duller  classmates,  he  graduated  fifth  in  his 
class,  entered  the  engineers,  and  several  years  after 
the  war  became  one  of  my  assistants  on  the  improve- 
ments of  the  upper  Mississippi.  When  I  resigned 
from  the  army,  he  followed  my  example  and  became 
an  able  and  brilliant  railroad  contractor,  but  his 
career  was  cut  short  by  death  from  disease  con- 
tracted in  his  new  calling.     It  is  due  to  Lawler 's 

179 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

memory  to  repeat  that  the  Confederate  general,  Ste- 
phen D.  Lee,  commanding  in  Lawler 's  front,  declared 
that  Griffith's  charge  was  made  at  the  only  point  on 
the  whole  defensive  line  where  onr  forces  succeeded 
in  breaking  through  that  day.  This  was  because 
Lawler  ordered  his  colonels  to  quietly  arouse  their 
men  before  daylight  and  move  them  up  stealthily 
under  cover  of  darkness  to  a  thicket  on  the  hillside 
about  fifty  yards  from  the  works,  where  they  lay 
unobserved  until  the  general  assault  was  sounded  at 
10  a.  m.  To  that  end  he  carefully  examined  the  inter- 
vening ground  the  evening  before  with  his  regi- 
mental commanders.  Unfortunately,  however,  no 
provision  was  made  by  the  division  or  corps  com- 
manders for  the  reinforcements  which  were  neces- 
sary for  the  full  success  of  such  an  assault.  Hours 
before  support  could  reach  Lawler,  and  after  his 
charge  had  spent  itself,  the  enemy  rallied  and 
strongly  reenforced  that  part  of  their  line.  Even  to 
get  in  touch  with  the  detachment  holding  the  bastion 
it  was  necessary  to  advance  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
mile,  for  the  most  part  under  fire,  and  this  was  a 
hopeless  task.1 

It  was  mainly  on  Griffith's  success  at  Vicksburg 
that  McClernand  based  the  claim  that  he  had  car- 
ried the  enemy's  works  and  called  for  reinforce- 
ments, which  was  unfortunately  followed  by  a 
renewal  of  the  attack  all  along  the  line  that  cost  the 
army  a  great  many  men.  For  this  McClernand  was 
severely  blamed  at  the  time,  because  the  second  at- 
tack was  far  more  hopeless  than  the  first,  but  can- 
dor compels  me  to  say  that  McClernand 's  conduct 
seems  to  have  been  no  more  blameworthy  upon  that 

1  O.  B.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXIV,  part  1,  pp.  178-79. 
180 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

occasion  than  Sherman's  or  McPherson's.  The  fact 
is  that  neither  corps  commander  made  the  proper 
provision  for  the  contingency  of  success  in  the  at- 
tack. Eifle  pits  and  fieldworks  were  assaulted  many 
times  throughout  the  war,  but  were  rarely  ever 
carried.  But  few  of  our  generals  became  proficient 
in  the  management  of  such  serious  work,  and  now 
that  it  is  all  over  it  can  do  no  harm  to  say  that 
Upton,  of  the  National  Army,  greatly  distinguished 
in  all  arms  of  the  service,  was  the  only  one  of  them 
who  thoroughly  mastered  that  branch  of  the  mili- 
tary art.  He  always  made  proper  provision  for 
success,  for  reinforcements,  for  cooperating  move- 
ments and  for  all  contingencies  that  could  be  fore- 
seen. From  the  day  he  became  a  colonel  he  never 
once  failed  to  break  through  the  enemy's  works  or 
to  make  good  his  hold  upon  them,  where  he  had  been 
ordered  and  had  sole  charge  of  the  arrangements. 
Hancock  was  next  to  him  in  this  complicated  work, 
but  no  other  corps  or  division  commander  on  either 
side  ever  equaled  Upton  in  the  uniform  success 
which  attended  his  efforts.  He  was  a  military  en- 
thusiast and  student  of  extraordinary  ability,  cour- 
age, and  judgment,  and,  young  as  he  was,  I  have 
never  doubted  that  when  the  war  ended  he  was  the 
best  all-round  soldier  of  his  day. 

When  it  is  recalled  that  neither  the  brilliant 
Sherman  nor  the  accomplished  McPherson,  both  dis- 
tinguished West  Point  men,  had  yet  mastered  the 
trick  of  carrying  fortified  positions  by  assault,  it 
need  not  be  thought  strange  that  McClernand,  the 
lawyer  and  politician,  who  acquired  his  first  mili- 
tary training  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  should  have 
failed  at  this  dangerous  and  complicated  business. 

181 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

He  was  naturally  as  able  as  the  rest,  but  his  tem- 
per, if  not  fate,  was  against  him.  A  fortnight  later 
I  had  occasion  to  carry  an  order  from  Grant,  direct- 
ing him  to  strengthen  the  detachment  from  his  corps 
watching  the  Big  Black  at  Hall's  Ferry.  I  had 
known  him  from  boyhood,  and  had  corresponded 
with  him.  Twice  in  October,  1862,  he  requested 
Stanton  to  detail  me  to  his  staff.  He  had  been, 
besides,  a  private  in  my  father's  company  in  the 
Black  Hawk  War,  and  we  were,  as  I  thought,  on 
excellent  terms.  Grant  and  Eawlins  evidently 
thought  so,  also,  but  when  I  delivered  the  order  re- 
ferred to  above,  I  was  greatly  shocked,  because,  in- 
stead of  receiving  it  kindly  and  signifying  his  obe- 
dience, he  burst  out  with:  "I'll  be  God  damned  if 
I'll  do  it — I  am  tired  of  being  dictated  to — I  won't 
stand  it  any  longer,  and  you  can  go  back  and  tell 
General  Grant!"  He  followed  this  up  with  a  vol- 
ley of  oaths  which  seemed  as  though  they  might 
have  been  aimed  as  much  at  me  as  at  our  common 
chief.  We  were  both  mounted  at  the  time,  and, 
although  surprised  at  the  violent  and  insubordinate 
outburst,  I  replied: 

"General  McClernand,  I  am  astonished  at  what 
you  are  saying.  You  surely  do  not  understand  the 
order  I  have  given,  and  I'll  repeat  it:  General 
Grant  directs  you  to  strengthen  the  outposts  of 
your  corps  at  Hall's  Ferry,  and  you  will  disobey 
this  order  at  your  peril !  And  now,  General,  in  ad- 
dition to  your  highly  insubordinate  language,  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  are  cursing  me  as  much  as 
you  are  cursing  General  Grant." 

Then,  reining  my  horse  quickly  alongside  of  his, 
I  added: 

182 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

"If  this  is  so,  although  you  are  a  major  general, 
while  I  am  only  a  lieutenant  colonel,  I  will 
pull  you  off  that  horse  and  beat  the  boots  off  of 
you ! ' ' 

This  brought  him  to  his  senses,  and,  seeing  the 
mistake  he  had  made,  he  said  at  once: 

Mi  am  not  cursing  you.     I  could  not  do  that. 
Your  father  was  my  friend  and  I  am  yours.    I  was 
simply  expressing  my  intense  vehemence  on  the  sub-^ 
ject  matter,  sir,  and  I  beg  your  pardon.' ' 

But  it  was  too  late.  He  had  exhausted  my  de- 
sire to.  keep  the  peace  between  him  and  General 
Grant,  as  well  as  my  patience,  and,  although  he  fol- 
lowed his  friendly  assurances  by  inviting  me  to  his 
camp  to  take  a  drink,  I  declined  with  the  remark 
that  I  didn  't  drink,  and  galloped  rapidly  away,  full 
of  anger  and  resentment. 

Arriving  at  headquarters,  I  told  Rawlins  and 
Grant  of  the  disagreeable  scene  through  which  I 
had  gone,  concluding  with  the  remark  that  the  order 
need  not  be  repeated  in  writing,  but  that  I  was  tired 
of  trying  to  keep  the  peace  between  headquarters 
and  our  political  generals. 

Thereupon  Grant  said:  u While  I  shall  not  no- 
tice this  violent  outburst,  I  '11  get  rid  of  McClernand 
the  first  chance  I  get."  Ever  afterward  when  he 
heard  an  officer  using  profane  language,  as  was  the 
custom  in  the  army,  he  would  say,  with  a  smile: 
"He's  not  cursing.  He  is  simply  expressing  his - 
intense  vehemence  on  the  subject  matter ! ' '  It  was 
a  happy  euphemism  which  saved  him  on  many  oc- 
casions from  rough  language  when,  if  he  had  been 
a  swearing  man,  he  would  have  certainly  yielded 
to  temptation. 

183 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Dana,  from  the  day  he  joined  the  staff,  con- 
ceived a  dislike  to  McClernand,  and  his  dispatches 
to  Stanton  throughout  the  Vicksburg  campaign 
were  altogether  unfavorable  to  him.1 

A  few  days  later  the  opportunity  came  for  get- 
ting rid  of  this  insubordinate  and  high-tempered 
corps  commander.  Shortly  after  the  general  assault 
on  the  fortifications  of  Vicksburg,  McClernand  is- 
sued a  general  order  congratulating  his  corps,  which 
he  designated  without  authority  as  "the  Army  of 
the  Mississippi,"  and  through  some  fault  of  his 
own  or  of  his  adjutant  general  he  failed  to  send  a 
copy  of  the  order,  as  required  by  army  regulations, 
to  headquarters,  but  did  not  fail  to  send  it  North 
for  publication  in  the  newspapers.  In  due  time  it 
came  back  to  the  army  and  both  Sherman  and 
McPherson  made  haste  to  send  it  to  Grant  with 
their  protest  against  it,  not  only  as  an  injustice 
to  their  respective  corps,  but  as  giving  praise  to 
the  Thirteenth  to  which  it  was  not  fairly  entitled. 
Carr,  one  of  his  own  division  commanders,  later 
protested  against  statements  in  the  order.2  Their 
points  were  well  taken  and  Grant  was  prompt  to 
respond.  He  referred  the  matter  at  once  to  Mc- 
Clernand for  an  explanation.  The  latter  replied 
without  delay  that  his  order  was  not  only  correctly 
printed,  but  that  he  was  prepared  to  stand  by  it  and 
its  allegations. 

This  settled  McClernand 's  fate.  I  was  absent 
from  camp  that  day  till  midnight,  but  the  order 
relieving  him  had  been  prepared,  and  on  my  return, 
Eawlins,    who    remained   up   to   tell  me   about   it, 

1  O.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXIV,  Part  I,  pp.  74,  81,  84,  86. 

2  O.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  24,  Part  I,  pp.  623-4. 

184 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

handed  it  to  me,  recounting  its  purport  and  direct- 
ing me  to  deliver  it  in  person  the  first  thing  in  the 
morning.  Eecognizing  its  importance  and  fearing 
that  some  contingency  might  occur  that  night  or 
in  the  early  dawn,  which  would  involve  a  sortie  or 
a  battle  in  which  McClernand  would  doubtless  dis- 
play his  usual  gallantry,  which  in  turn  might  cause 
Grant  to  delay,  if  not  cancel  the  order,  I  said  to 
Rawlins:  "Why  shouldn't  I  deliver  it  to-night ¥" 
This  brought  the  reply:  "Because  you  are  tired 
and  to-morrow  will  do."  We  then  discussed  the 
subject  from  every  point  of  view,  with  the  result 
that  he  yielded  and  I  turned  out  the  provost  mar- 
shal with  a  sergeant  and  four  men,  and,  after  put- 
ting on  full  field  uniform,  mounted  a  fresh  horse 
and  set  out  on  my  mission.  I  reached  McClernand  ?s 
headquarters  between  1  and  2  a.  m.,  and,  after  wait- 
ing till  the  orderly  on  duty  could  arouse  the  general, 
and  when  he  had  clad  himself  properly,  I  was  shown 
in.  With  all  his  violence  he  was  a  punctilious  man, 
and  I  found  him  in  full  uniform,  his  sword  lying 
across  the  table  with  two  lighted  candles  in  front 
of  him. 

The  provost  marshal  and  his  squad  were  within 
call,  and,  after  saluting  him,  I  said:  "General,  I 
have  an  important  order  for  you  which  I  am  directed 
to  deliver  into  your  hands  and  to  see  that  you  read 
it  in  my  presence,  that  you  understand  it,  and  that 
you  signify  your  immediate  obedience  to  it."  I 
handed  him  the  sealed  envelope,  watched  him  adjust 
his  glasses,  and  then  open  and  read  it.  When  he 
caught  its  purport,  almost  instantly  he  said:  "Well, 
sir!  I  am  relieved!"  And  then,  as  if  taking  it 
all  in,  he  added  almost  in  the  same  breath:    "By 

185 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

God,  sir,  we  are  both  relieved !" — meaning  Grant 
as  well  as  himself. 

Seeing  that  he  understood  the  order  correctly, 
I  added: 

"General,  I  am  furthermore  instructed  to  say 
that  your  functions  as  a  corps  commander  in  this 
army  are  at  an  end.  A.  J.  Smith,  next  in  rank,  has 
been  already  notified,  and,  in  case  any  emergency 
arises  to-night,  he  will  take  charge  of  the  corps. 
You  will  exercise  none  of  the  functions  of  a  gen- 
eral, but  you  will  proceed  at  your  earliest  conve- 
nience to  your  home  in  Illinois  and  there  await  the 
orders  of  the  War  Department." 

Perceiving  that  there  was  nothing  left  for  him 
but  to  obey,  he  expressed  his  satisfaction  with  the 
order  relieving  him  from  a  disagreeable  situation 
and  signified  his  intention  of  leaving  for  home  early 
after  daylight.  As  this  was  exactly  what  was  de- 
sired, I  took  my  leave,  and,  although  he  lived  to  a 
ripe  old  age,  I  never  saw  him  again.  With  all  his 
violence  of  temper  and  his  lack  of  military  training 
and  discipline,  he  was  a  patriot  and  a  man  of  strong, 
virile  character,  who,  with  an  ordinary  degree  of 
self-control,  would  have  come  out  of  the  war  as 
one  of  its  real  heroes.  His  support  of  the  Admin- 
istration at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  and  dur- 
ing the  war  rendered  it  a  great  and  valuable  politi- 
cal service,  second  only  to  that  rendered  by  Douglas, 
and  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  both  the  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary  of  War  were  partial  to  him, 
and  had  encouraged  him  with  the  hope,  if  not  the 
formal  promise,  of  the  command  of  the  expedition 
to  open  the  Mississippi  Eiver.1 

1  O.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  XVII,  Part  2,  pp.  275. 
186 


CHIEF  TOPOGRAPHICAL  ENGINEER 

The  student  of  history,  curious  as  to  the  details 
of  this  interesting  episode,  which  interrupted  the 
harmonious  cooperation  of  the  corps  commanders 
in  the  Vicksburg  campaign  and  influenced  the  course 
of  events  and  which,  but  for  the  patriotism  of  those 
concerned,  aided  by  Grant's  good  sense  and  pa- 
tience, might  have  led  to  disaster,  will  find  the  con- 
flicting views  of  the  chief  actors  fully  set  out  in  the 
Official  Eecords,1  with  a  violent  attack  upon  Grant's 
personal  habits. 

Having  disposed  of  McClernand  as  a  disturb- 
ing element  in  that  army,  I  shall  now  return  to 
the  consideration  of  other  personal  features  of  the 
campaign. 

10.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXIV,  Part  1,   p.  169. 

This  also  contains  McClernand 's  extreme  statement  that  Grant 
was  indebted  to  the  forbearance  of  officers  under  his  command  for 
his  retention  in  the  public  service. 


187 


VII 

THE    VICKSBURG    CAMPAIGN 

The  Black  Belt — Lorenzo  Thomas — Cross  the  Mississippi — 
Bayou  Pierre — Grand  Gulf — Captain  Badeau — Mc- 
Pherson  at  Raymond — Grant  at  Jackson — Champion's 
Hill — Passage  of  the  Big  Black — The  American 
volunteer. 

The  preliminary  operations  of  the  Vicksburg 
campaign  were  mostly  in  northeastern  Louisiana 
and  that  part  of  Mississippi  in  which  the  slave  pop- 
ulation was  densest  and  the  white  population  rich- 
est. The  plantations  in  the  bayou  region  were 
large,  the  land  most  fertile,  and  the  buildings  com- 
modious. As  the  troops  were  struggling  to  make 
their  way  over  the  almost  impassable  mud  roads,  I 
generally  supervised  the  bridge  building,  and  this 
made  it  necessary  for  me  to  pass  from  one  column 
to  the  other.  Dana,  who  came  from  Washington 
as  "the  eyes  of  the  Government, ' '  and  a  couple  of 
orderlies  were  my  only  companions,  and,  as  we 
necessarily  traveled  light,  we  made  it  a  rule  to 
stop  at  the  most  opulent  mansion  within  reach 
when  night  overtook  us.  And  it  gives  me  pleasure 
to  record  that,  while  all  the  proprietors,  and  es- 
pecially the  ladies,  were  undisguised  rebels,  they 
never  failed  to  give  us  a  hospitable  reception.    This 

188 


THE   VICKSBURG   CAMPAIGN 

may  have  been  largely  due  to  a  desire  for  protec- 
tion, but  it  was  none  the  less  acceptable  on  that 
account.  After  bridging  Roundaway  Bayou,  we 
put  up  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Amis,  a  most  charming 
and  accomplished  woman,  whose  stately  mansion 
was  embowered  in  flowers  and  ornamental  trees, 
backed  by  a  village  of  comfortable  negro  quarters. 
Here  we  saw  the  most  attractive  and  successful 
features  of  slavery.  Luxury  was  apparent  in  the 
whole  establishment,  and  as  far  as  we  could  see 
neither  want  nor  suffering  had  yet  reached  that 
region.  The  family  cook,  if  not  a  cordon  bleu,  was 
a  past  mistress  of  the  art,  and  her  broiled  chick- 
ens, bacon,  and  hominy  muffins  were  a  delight  neith- 
er of  us  ever  forgot.  While  the  place  was  pro- 
tected as  long  as  we  were  in  the  neighborhood,  it 
probably  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  following 
Yankees.  The  slaves,  who  had  been  docile  and 
apparently  content  to  that  day,  packed  up  their 
poor  belongings  and,  with  their  pickaninnies  on 
their  backs  or  trudging  by  their  sides,  followed  the 
flag  which  brought  freedom  to  them.  And  this  was 
the  rule  throughout  both  states.  Wherever  our 
columns  went  there  freedom  went  also,  and  every 
colored  man  and  woman  that  could  walk  eagerly 
embraced  it.  It  was  pitiful  to  see  their  ignorant 
upturned  faces  as  they  struggled  through  the  mud 
beside  or  behind  our  columns  to  an  unknown  desti- 
nation, where  they  were  sure  they  would  be  free. 
Many  times  as  I  rode  by  them  I  called  out  as  cheer- 
ily as  I  could:  "Wha'  you-all  gwine?"  And  as 
many  times  the  answer  came  back  ignorantly  but 
hopefully:  "Gwine  along  down,  Massa — gwine 
along  down  wid  you-all !" 

189 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

When  it  is  remembered  that  it  was  in  this  re- 
gion, the  heart  of  the  Black  Belt,  that  slavery  had 
done  its  best,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  presence  of. 
our  army  was  the  precursor  of  agricultural  disor- 
ganization and  distress  as  well  as  of  emancipation. 
Farm  work  was  practically  at  an  end  and  idle- 
ness, the  negro's  nearest  conception  of  freedom, 
everywhere  prevailed.  This  was  soon  followed, 
however,  by  the  presence  of  Lorenzo  Thomas,  who, 
having  failed  to  gain  Stanton's  approval  as  adju- 
tant general,  was  sent  to  the  Mississippi  to  or- 
ganize negro  regiments  and  look  after  the  f reedmeh. 
He  did  his  work,  for  lack  of  experience  and  means, 
with  only  moderate  success,  but  he  took  the  respon- 
sibility for  it  from  the  army  commander  and  elimi- 
nated the  negro  question  as  far  as  the  western  army 
was  concerned. 

After  we  crossed  the  Mississippi  he  traveled 
with  us  for  a  while,  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
campaign,  with  all  its  demands,  that  Eawlins  and 
I  concluded  that  Grant  should  have  a  private  sec- 
retary to  look  after  his  personal  correspondence, 
and  agreed  that  I  should  bring  the  matter  to  his 
attention.  I  did  this  as  soon  as  possible  after  we 
secured  a  footing  on  the  Mississippi  uplands. 

As  I  was  the  only  regular  officer  then  present 
and  was  always  well  mounted  and  ready  for  serv- 
ice, I  generally  rode  next  to  Grant  on  the  march, 
and  this  gave  me  a  rare  opportunity  for  personal  as 
well  as  official  conversation.  The  day  after  the 
battle  of  Port  Gibson  and  the  passage  of  Bayou 
Pierre,  as  we  were  making  our  way  through  the  for- 
est to  Eocky  Springs,  I  said : 

"General,  last  night's  experience  has  convinced 
190 


THE   VICKSBURG   CAMPAIGN 

both  Eawlins  and  me  that  you  ought  to  have  a  mili- 
tary secretary.  As  both  he  and  Bowers  have  all 
they  can  do  and  as  I  am  frequently  away,  you  should 
have  a  special  officer  to  look  after  your  correspond- 
ence. ' ! 

"Yes,"  said  the  General,  "I  have  been  thinking 
of  that  myself.  Do  you  know  anybody  who  will 
suit?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  I,  "there  are  plenty  of  them 
who,  like  Lincoln's  coon  dog,  are  good  for  nothing 
else,  but  you  can't  always  get  them  when  you  want 
them.  The  best  man  in  my  mind  now  is  Captain 
Badeau,  A.  A.  D.  C,  who  was  a  reporter  with  us  at 
Port  Boyal,  and  is  now  on  T.  W.  Sherman's  staff 
with  Banks.  Perhaps  you  know  him.  He  was  with 
Sherman  during  the  Corinth  campaign  and  you 
must  have  seen  him.  J ' 

"No,  I  don't  recall  him.  What  sort  of  a  looking 
man  was  he ! " 

"He  was  a  short,  stoop-shouldered,  red-headed 
fellow,  who  wore  glasses." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  remember  him — a  little  pale,  blue- 
eyed  man,  who  wore  spectacles  and  looked  like  a 
bent  fo '-pence.    Do  you  think  he'll  do?" 

I  then  told  him  of  Badeau 's  classical  education, 
wide  acquaintance  with  leading  people,  his  literary 
experience,  and  his  great  desire  to  be  of  use.  I 
pointed  out  that  he  had  absolutely  no  military  apti- 
tudes, and  "would  never  make  a  soldier  in  his  life," 
and  that  if  he  wasn't  fit  for  a  secretary  he  wasn't 
fit  for  anything  connected  with  the  service.  I  told 
the  General  in  addition  how  he  had  endeared  him- 
self to  us  all  in  the  Port  Eoyal  expedition,  and  how 
we  had  united  in  recommending  him  to  the  Presi- 

191 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

dent  for  a  commission,  how  the  commission  had  been 
issued,  and  how  Sherman  had  taken  him  on  his  staff 
to  Shiloh,  Corinth,  and  New  Orleans. 

This  settled  it,  and  when  I  got  through  the  Gen- 
eral said:  "I  guess  he'll  do.  Please  write  a  note 
to  the  Hippo- John-Thomas  (the  playful  name  by 
which  he  frequently  referred  to  Adjutant  General 
Thomas)  and  ask  him  to  make  an  order  directing 
Captain  Badeau  to  report  to  me  in  the  field  at  the 
earliest  possible  day." 

I  wrote  the  request  at  the  first  halt  and  the  order 
was  duly  made,  but,  as  ill  fortune  would  have  it*  the 
very  day  Badeau  received  it  he  was  shot  through  the 
foot,  while  his  chief  lost  a  leg,  leading  the  assault 
at  Port  Hudson.  In  consequence  of  this  wound, 
which  proved  exceedingly  severe  and  slow  to  heal, 
Badeau  was  invalided  and  did  not  report  to  Grant 
for  duty  till  the  latter  had  been  still  further  pro- 
moted and  had  assumed  personal  command  of 
the  Union  armies  in  Virginia.  Badeau  thus  real- 
ized the  dream  of  his  life,  and  it  is  but  just  to  add 
that  he  proved  himself  not  only  a  faithful  secretary 
but  a  painstaking  and  faithful  military  historian  to 
the  lieutenant  general  whom  he  ultimately  came  to 
regard  as  possessed  of  every  virtue  and  as  in  every 
way  the  greatest  man  he  had  ever  known. 

There  will  be  many  occasions  to  mention  Badeau 
hereafter,  for  he  was  by  no  means  without  influ- 
ence or  ambition.  But  unhappily  he  proved  to  have 
weaknesses  which  none  of  his  military  friends,  and 
I,  least  of  all,  had  ever  suspected.  Although  pos- 
sessed of  genuine  scholarship  and  many  accomplish- 
ments, he  was  essentially  a  vain  and  weak  man, 
who  owed  everything  to  his  chief  and  forgot  some 

192 


THE   VICKSBURG   CAMPAIGN 

of  it  in  the  hour  of  adversity  which  finally  overtook 
them  both. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  considera- 
tion in  beginning  the  campaign  east  of  the  Great 
Eiver  was  to  minimize  the  impedimenta  and  get  as 
many  fighting  men  into  the  first  battle  as  possible. 
Everything  and  everybody  not  absolutely  needed  at 
the  front  was  left  behind.  Even  Dana,  the  special^ 
commissioner  of  the  War  Department,  and  Fred 
Grant,  the  GeneraPs  eldest  son,  then  a  lad  of  four- 
teen, had  to  steal  their  passage  across  the  river  and 
make  their  way  to  the  sound  of  the  guns  on  foot. 
But  they  were  not  laggards,  and  although  it  was 
only  the  first  day  of  May  and  the  heat  was  intense 
they  caught  up  with  the  army  while  it  was  gaining 
its  first  victory.  On  the  road  they  helped  them- 
selves to  a  pair  of  superannuated  carriage  horses, 
too  old  to  work,  and,  with  blind  bridles  and  played- 
out  saddles,  finished  the  last  stage  of  their  journey 
without  the  fatigue  of  walking. 

One  of  the  first  prisoners  of  the  day  was  a  smart, 
well  mounted  young  Confederate  officer,  who  was 
brought  at  once  to  Grant's  headquarters,  where  he 
was,  of  course,  well  treated.  His  welcome  was  so 
informal  and  hearty  that  he  not  only  soon  became 
much  at  his  ease,  but  felt  so  encouraged  that  he 
asked  General  Grant,  who  had  already  admired  his 
horse,  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  keep  it.  He  urged 
that  it  was  private  property  which  he  had  bred  him- 
self, and  to  which  he  had  become  much  attached. 
It  was  a  moving  appeal,  but  the  General  replied, 
with  a  gentle  smile: 

"Yes,  my  young  friend,  I  understand  your  feel- 
ings, but  as  we  are  now  in  need  of  horses  and  yours 

193 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

would  just  suit  Mr.  Dana,  the  commissioner  of  the 
War  Department,  I  must  ask  you  to  turn  it  over  to 
him.  In  exchange  I  will  give  you  an  order  on  the 
Confederate  authorities  for  an  excellent  horse  of  my 
own,  which  one  of  your  erring  fellow  countrymen 
took  a  few  months  ago,  with  a  part  of  my  head- 
quarters at  Holly  Springs." 

The  young  man  smiled  faintly  at  the  General  's 
joke,  and  slowly  but  sadly  dismounted,  with  newer 
but  more  exact  knowledge  of  how  the  Yankees  made 
war  support  war.  The  horse  proved  a  satisfactory 
mount  for  Dana  till  the  end  of  the  campaign. 

It  was  such  little  things  as  this  that  cheered  us 
on  our  way.  Grant  was  an  adept  at  them,  and  al- 
though kind  and  sympathetic  to  an  unusual  degree 
never  failed  to  profit  by  advantages  which  came  his 
way,  no  matter  how  small  they  might  be.  Cheerful, 
kind-hearted,  and  solicitous  for  the  comfort  of  those 
about  him,  he  was  a  most  agreeable  companion  both 
on  the  march  and  in  camp.  He  loved  good  horses 
and  good  horsemen,  and  always  had  a  kind  word  for 
the  man  or  officer  who  had  a  good  mount  and  took 
good  care  of  it.  Frequently  while  marching  through 
wooded  country  he  would  say:  "Wilson,  there's  a 
fallen  tree  you  haven't  jumped  yet.  Put  your  horse 
at  it  and  let  us  see  how  he  takes  it,"  and  he  always 
praised  the  horse.  Seeing  him  upon  such  occasions 
no  one  would  have  ever  thought  he  had  any  more 
care  on  his  mind  than  a  school  boy,  especially  if  the 
marches  and  the  combinations  were  going  to  his  sat- 
isfaction. Plain  and  simple  in  his  manners,  kind 
and  considerate  to  the  officers  and  men  of  his  staff, 
and  most  gentle  and  sympathetic  with  the  poor  peo- 
ple of  the  country,  it  was  like  a  continuous  picnic 

194 


THE    VICKSBURG    CAMPAIGN 

to  campaign  with  him  when  there  was  nothing  more 
serious  on  hand  than  marching  through  a  smiling 
land  in  the  springtime.  He  gave  the  least  trouble 
possible  about  camping  or  breaking  camp,  merely 
indicating  in  a  general  way  what  he  wanted  and 
leaving  all  the  details  to  Eawlins  and  the  proper 
officers  of  the  staff. 

It  should  be  noted  that  in  our  anxiety  to  forward 
troops,  ammunition,  and  provisions,  we  left  our 
headquarters  baggage  wagons,  camp  equipage,  and 
horses,  with  the  impedimenta  of  the  army,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Mississippi.  They  did  not  join  us 
till  May  8.  We  had  been  fully  a  week  in  the 
enemy's  country,  riding  borrowed  cavalry  horses, 
and  literally  "making  war  support  war,"  eating 
where  we  could  get  food,  and  sleeping  where  we 
could  find  shelter.  Grant  and  his  staff  shared  the 
hardships  and  privations  of  the  troops,  but  being 
few  in  number  generally  occupied  farm  houses  at 
night,  receiving  shelter  and  hospitality  in  exchange 
for  protection.  It  was  an  exciting  and  encouraging 
time  during  which  the  General  displayed  all  his 
amiable  qualities  to  perfection. 

In  repairing  the  bridge  over  the  north  fork  of 
the  Bayou  Pierre  after  the  battle  of  Port  Gibson, 
Eawlins  and  I  worked  all  night,  taking  neither  rest 
nor  sleep  till  it  was  certain  that  the  bridge  would 
serve  its  purpose.  Without  delay  the  marching  col- 
umns were  well  under  way  to  the  front.  It  was  now 
5  o'clock  and  broad  daylight,  but  the  excitement 
was  over  and  we  had  at  last  become  sensible  of  fa- 
tigue. We  therefore  returned  to  headquarters 
nearby  and  threw  ourselves  down  for  rest.  The 
establishment  was,  however,  already  astir,  the  cooks 

195 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

were  serving  breakfast,  the  servants  were  packing, 
and  the  orderlies  saddling  and  leading  out  the 
horses.  Under  these  conditions  both  silence  and 
sleep  were  impossible.  In  the  midst  of  it  all  we 
heard  the  General,  as  he  was  mounting,  caution  the 
staff  and  orderlies  not  to  call  us,  but  leave  us  to  get 
our  " sleep  out."  Under  such  circumstances  every 
soldier  will  understand  we  could  neither  sleep  nor 
stay  behind.  We  therefore  waited  only  till  our 
companions  were  gone,  when  we  mounted  and 
shortly  afterward  overtook  them  well  on  the  road 
to  Willow  Springs.  That  afternoon  we  rode  with 
Grant  to  our  new  base  at  Grand  Gulf,  where  we 
found  the  navy  in  possession.  The  guns  had  already 
been  branded:  "Captured  by  the  Mississippi 
Squadron  under  command  of  Rear  Admiral  David 
D.  Porter/ '  but  inasmuch  as  the  enemy  had  blown 
up  his  batteries  between  3  and  4  a.  m.  of  May  2, 
this  display  legend  struck  us  as  hardly  fair  to  the 
army.  Grant,  however,  passed  it  over  with  a  smile. 
The  rebel  garrison  held  on  till  8  p.  m.  of  that  day, 
when  it  became  certain  that  Bowen  had  been  de- 
feated and  that  this  outlying  detachment  would  be 
captured  unless  it  made  haste  to  rejoin  Pember- 
ton's  main  army  in  the  field.  This  it  did  by  a 
rapid  march  to  the  rebel  bridge  of  boats  at  Han- 
kinson's  Ferry.  Thus  our  line  of  communications 
was  shortened  and  the  two  armies  were  brought 
face  to  face  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  in  the  interior 
on  the  lower  reach  of  the  Big  Black. 

Grant,  Rawlins,  and  I  worked  till  after  midnight 
of  the  3rd  on  board  Porter's  flagship,  writing  orders 
and  dispatches,  and  when  every  disposition  that 
could  be  thought  of  had  been  duly  provided  for,  we 

196 


THE    VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN 

mounted  and  rode  back  to  the  army,  which  we  found 
in  camp  near  Hankinson's  Ferry  at  four  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  the  4th.  As  all  the  houses  in  the 
neighborhood  were  occupied  by  those  who  got  there 
before  us,  we  unsaddled,  spread  our  blankets,  and 
threw  ourselves  down  on  the  porch  of  a  plantation 
house  for  rest.  Grant  was  with  us,  tired  and  sleepy, 
but  contented.  We  slept  till  the  smell  of  breakfast 
and  the  rising  sun  awoke  us.  We  remained  in  that 
region  for  about  a  week,  engaged  in  watching  the 
enemy  while  hurrying  forward  our  whole  army  for^ 
the  next  step  in  the  campaign. 

The  first  important  point  occupied  after  the 
battle  of  Port  Gibson  was  Willow  Springs,  between 
Bayou  Pierre  and  the  Big  Black,  covering  Grand 
Gulf.  The  next  was  Rocky  Springs,  eight  miles 
farther  to  the  northeast.  From  these  points  de- 
tachments were  thrown  out  to  the  left  toward  Han- 
kinson's,  Harmer's,  and  Hall's  Ferries,  while  the 
Thirteenth  Corps  moved  forward,  its  left  skirting 
the  river,  its  main  body  generally  on  the  direct  road 
through  Cayuga  and  Auburn  toward  Edward's 
Depot.  This  naturally  gave  the  impression  that 
Grant  intended  to  force  a  crossing  of  the  Big  Black 
and  move  directly  against  Vicksburg,  while  his  real 
purpose  was  to  screen  the  movement  of  his  main 
column  to  the  right  through  Utica  and  Raymond  to 
Clinton  on  the  east  and  west  railroad. 

Sherman,  who  had  been  left  behind,  partly  be- 
cause of  his  disapproval  of  the  campaign  and  partly 
to  still  further  confuse  the  enemy  by  a  demonstra- 
tion against  Hayne's  Bluff,  was  the  last  to  join  the 
army  in  the  field.  Naturally  his  march  was  so  di- 
rected after  crossing  the  river  that  he  could  sup- 

197 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

port  either  column  as  might  be  necessary  and 
finally  take  position  on  McPherson's  right  at  Ray- 
mond. The  city  of  Jackson,  fourteen  miles  farther 
east,  was,  however,  the  chief  railroad  center  in  all 
that  region  as  well  as  the  capital  of  the  state  and 
the  principal  depot  of  supplies  for  the  Confederates. 
It  was,  therefore,  according  to  the  art  of  war,  the 
first  strategic  objective  of  the  campaign,  and  till 
it  was  firmly  in  our  hands  and  its  bridges,  depots, 
and  supplies  were  destroyed,  there  would  neces- 
sarily be  danger  of  a  concentrated  and  effective 
movement  against  the  flank  and  rear  of  our  columns 
from  that  quarter. 

McPherson's  advance  under  Logan  first  encoun- 
tered the  enemy  on  May  12  in  force  two  or  three 
miles  from  Raymond,  about  fifteen  miles  from  Jack- 
son, and,  after  a  spirited  fight,  drove  him  in  confu- 
sion from  the  field.  Anticipating  this  affair,  Dana 
and  I  left  Grant  on  the  main  road  from  Auburn  for 
the  same  place,  coming  up  with  McPherson  at  dusk 
just  after  he  had  beaten  the  enemy,  four  or  five 
thousand  strong,  and  was  going  into  camp  for  the 
night.  As  he  had  gained  an  easy  victory,  which 
it  was  important  to  improve,  after  congratulating 
him  and  praising  his  work,  I  directed  him  in 
Grant's  name  to  push  on  at  an  early  hour  next 
morning  to  Clinton  on  the  Jackson  and  Vicksburg 
Railroad,  hardly  seven  miles  farther  to  the  north- 
east. Much  to  my  surprise,  he  said  pointblank  he 
would  be  damned  if  he'd  do  any  such  thing,  that 
he  was  not  strong  enough  to  venture  so  far  alone, 
and  besides  he  didn't  intend  that  his  men  should  do 
all  the  fighting  for  that  army. 

This  was  such  an  unexpected  and  insubordinate 
198 


THE    VICKSBURG   CAMPAIGN 

answer  from  a  West  Point  man,  who  was  justly 
regarded  as  an  ideal  soldier,  that  I  expressed  my 
amazement  in  terms  he  could  not  fail  to  under- 
stand. Deliberately  repeating  the  order,  and  calling 
his  attention  to  the  penalty  of  disobedience,  I 
whirled  my  horse  about  and,  accompanied  by  Dana, 
galloped  through  the  dark  to  General  Grant,  whom 
we  found  in  camp  near  the  place  we  had  left  him. 
After  reporting  the  spirited  victory  at  Eaymond 
and  pointing  out  the  important  positions  on  the 
map,  I  recited  the  order  I  had  given  in  his  name  to 
McPherson  and  asked  him  to  confirm  it  in  writing. 
This  he  did  at  once  and  was  about  to  send  it  by  an- 
other officer,  when  I  said:  "No,  General,  give  it 
to  me.  I  have  particular  reasons  for  desiring  to 
deliver  it  in  person.' f  Thereupon  Dana  and  I, 
mounting  fresh  horses,  rode  back  to  McPherson  and 
gave  him  Grant 's  written  order  about  midnight,  but 
withal  he  held  on  at  that  place  till  after  nine  o  'clock 
the  next  morning,  and  did  not  reach  Clinton  till 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  next  day.  When 
I  overtook  him  with  Grant  early  in  the  forenoon,  he 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  his  petulant  and  unsol- 
dierlike  answer  of  the  night  before,  but  made  no 
effort  to  quicken  his  march.  His  movement  through- 
out was  culpably  slow,  but  as  there  was  no  enemy 
to  resist  him,  slow  as  it  was,  it  gave  us  indisputed 
possession  of  the  railroad  and  interposed  an  entire 
army  corps  between  Johnston  and  Pemberton.  The 
next  day,  in  pursuance  of  orders,  he  started  early, 
but  still  moved  slowly  and  cautiously  toward  Jack- 
son, where  he  might  have  cut  off  Johnston's  retreat 
to  the  northward  had  he  marched  with  proper  celer- 
ity.   As  it  was,  he  merely  left  the  direct  road  from 

199 


UNDEE    THE    OLD   FLAG 

Eaymond  to  Jackson  clear  for  Sherman's  corps  and 
enabled  the  latter  to  occupy  that  important  center 
without  much  fighting,  but  with  some  delay  accompa- 
nied by  a  good  deal  of  noisy  cannonading.  Although 
the  latter  did  but  little  harm,  it  had  the  effect  of 
postponing  McPherson 's  detour  north  of  the  town 
and  thus  gave  Johnston  time  to  withdraw  by  the 
Canton  road  before  his  retreat  in  that  direction 
could  be  seriously  interfered  with. 

Up  to  the  evening  of  May  12,  when  McPherson 
gained  his  victory  over  Bowen  at  Eaymond,  Grant 
had  formed  no  other  plan  than  to  break  the  Vicks- 
burg  and  Jackson  Eailroad  at  Clinton  and  then  turn 
toward  Vicksburg  to  confront  Pemberton  wherever 
he  might  be  found.  But  while  Dana  and  I  were  re- 
turning to  headquarters  from  Eaymond  the  first 
time,  we  considered  the  whole  situation  and  con- 
cluded that,  Jackson  being  the  principal  railroad 
crossing  and  the  strategic  center  of  the  state,  Grant 
should  order  each  of  his  army  corps  promptly  to- 
ward that  place,  drive  off  or  disperse  the  rebel 
force,  occupy  the  city,  destroy  the  military  stores 
and  supplies  which  might  be  found,  burn  the  Pearl 
Eiver  Eailroad  bridge,  and  effectively  break  up  the 
railroads  centering  at  that  place.  It  was  evident 
that  this  course  would  seriously  disconcert  and  delay 
the  enemy  and  correspondingly  facilitate  our  own 
operations,  and,  accordingly,  after  explaining  it 
fully  to  Eawlins  and  securing  his  approval,  I  laid 
it  before  Grant.  I  briefly  indicated  the  extent  of 
McPherson 's  victory  as  well  as  the  orders  I  had 
given  for  following  it  up,  pointed  out  his  indisposi- 
tion to  obey  them  unless  heavily  reenforced,  and 
then  advised  Grant  to  move  his  whole  army  toward 

200 


THE   VICKSBURG   CAMPAIGN 

Jackson  and  take  that  place  before  turning  to  the 
west.  Without  asking  a  question  or  raising  an  ob- 
jection, he  formally  directed  McPherson  to  push 
forward  by  the  way  of  Clinton,  Sherman  by 
the  Raymond  road  to  Jackson,  while  McClernand 
should  move  by  his  right  flank  to  Raymond  and 
there  hold  himself  in  readiness  to  support  either 
McPherson  or  Sherman  as  might  become  neces- 
sary. 

During  the  whole  of  that  night  no  question  was 
raised  as  to  the  propriety  of  these  dispositions,  but 
by  noon  the  next  day,  after  every  corps  was  in  mo- 
tion, Grant  for  the  first  time  expressed  regret  that  he 
had  ordered  everything  so  far  to  the  east.  And  dur- 
ing the  afternoon  he  remarked  to  me  more  than  once 
that  he  wished  he  had  not  sanctioned  the  movement 
to  Jackson,  but  whether  this  was  due  to  the  slow- 
ness with  which  his  orders  were  executed,  or  to  a 
doubt  as  to  their  wisdom,  he  did  not  explain.  After 
he  had  captured  the  place,  however,  he  realized  that 
Jackson  was  his  opponent's  center  of  intelligence 
as  well  as  of  operations  and  supply,  and  not  only 
became  convinced  that  he  had  done  right  in  going 
there,  but  never  again  expressed  doubt  in  reference 
to  the  subject.  The  subsequent  course  of  the  cam- 
paign made  it  certain  that  his  strategy  in  this  case 
was  correct,  and  that  he  had  come  to  a  wise  decision 
a  few  days  before  in  declining  to  weaken  his  com- 
mand by  sending  any  part  of  it  to  join  Banks.  He 
reached  this  conclusion  in  the  course  of  a  discus- 
sion with  me,  and  it  was  then  embodied  in  a  formal 
letter  which  I  wrote  by  his  direction  and  dispatched 
to  Banks  by  Captain  UlfYers,  one  of  my  engineer 
assistants,  who  made  his  way  by  horse  to  Grand 

201 


\' 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

Gulf,  and  thence  down  the  river  on  a  steam  tug- 
boat furnished  by  Admiral  Porter. 

Immediately  after  entering  Jackson,  Grant  es- 
tablished headquarters  at  the  principal  hotel,  a 
favorable  position  from  which  to  gather  informa- 
tion and  to  supervise  the  destruction  necessary  for 
the  further  success  of  his  own  army.  Perhaps  the 
most  fortunate  incident  of  the  day  was  the  capture 
of  a  late  dispatch  from  Johnston,  directing  Pember- 
ton  to  cross  the  Big  Black  and  fall  upon  Grant's 
rear.  This  hastened  the  burning  of  the  railroad 
bridge  across  Pearl  Eiver,  the  destruction  of  the 
rolling  stock  and  the  enemy's  supplies,  and  the  coun- 
termarch and  concentration  of  our  army  at  Cham- 
pion's Hill,  about  six  miles  east  of  Edward's  Sta- 
tion. No  time  was  lost  in  this  change  from  front  to 
rear,  but  every  soldier  as  well  as  every  general,  in- 
cluding McPherson,  did  his  best  to  get  strung  out 
on  the  road  and  headed  for  Pemberton's  army,  which 
they  were  now  sure  of  meeting  in  the  open  on  fair 
and  equal  terms. 

Grant,  with  his  staff  and  escort,  remained  with 
Sherman's  Corps  in  the  town  overnight.  All  com- 
munication with  the  North  had  been  cut  off  since 
we  left  Cayuga,  no  dispatches  except  from  his  own 
subordinate  could  reach  us,  and  none  could  be  sent 
away.  So  there  was  nothing  left  for  Grant  but 
to  gather  information,  make  orders,  and  superin- 
tend the  work  of  the  destroyers.  Although  Jackson 
was  the  first  capital  of  an  interior  state  occupied 
by  us,  it  was  in  those  days  a  raw,  rambling  Southern 
town,  mostly  of  cheap  frame  houses,  with  here  and 
there  a  pretentious  brick  store,  or  a  still  more  pre- 
tentious residence  or  public  building,  all  of  which 

202 


THE    VICKSBURG   CAMPAIGN 

were  protected,  as  far  as  possible,  from  fire  and  ma- 
rauders. We,  of  course,  took  possession  of  the  post 
office  and  the  mails,  from  which  we  got  a  good  lot  of 
interesting  Confederate  correspondence,  treasury- 
drafts,  and  money. 

The  next  morning  before  leaving  I  asked  the  ho- 
tel keeper  for  our  bill.  He  replied  breezily  enough : 
1 '  Sixty-five  dollars, ' '  doubtless  expecting  his  pay  in 
national  currency,  but  when  I  handed  him  a  brand 
new  one-hundred-dollar  Confederate  note  his  face 
took  on  a  disappointed  look  as  he  said :  ' '  Oh,  if  you 
pay  in  Confederate  money,  it  will  be  ninety-five  dol- 
lars. ' '  To  this  I  answered :  ' '  That  's  all  right,  and 
never  mind  the  change ! ' '  But  unfortunately  for  the 
landlord  one  of  his  neighbors  was  a  witness  to  the 
transaction  and  the  colloquy,  and  with  true  in- 
tolerance made  haste  to  report  them  to  his 
fellow  townsmen,  through  whom  it  promptly  reached 
the  rebel  authorities.  It  was  a  fatal  but  perhaps 
an  unconscious  blunder,  for  it  was  a  public  admis- 
sion that  Southern  currency  was  at  a  heavy  discount 
and  Yankee  money  at  a  corresponding  premium, 
and  this  was  at  that  stage  of  the  war  an  unpardon- 
able sin.  Accordingly,  we  had  hardly  got  out  of 
the  city  when,  as  we  afterward  learned,  the  hotel 
was  set  on  fire  and  speedily  reduced  to  ashes,  but 
whether  this  quickened  the  patriotism  or  aroused 
the  enmity  of  the  hotel  keeper  we  never  knew. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  was  about  the 
middle  of  May,  1863,  and  looking  back  upon  it  after 
nearly  half  a  century,  it  must  be  regarded  as  a  / 
striking  commentary  upon  the  hopes  of  the  rebel- 
lion. 

The  battle  of  Champion's  Hill  was  fought  on 
203 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

May  16.  Grant  had  concentrated  three  army 
corps,  with  not  far  from  forty-five  thousand  men, 
within  close  supporting  distance  of  each  other,  while 
Pemberton,  with  twenty-five,  and  Johnston,  with  ten 
or  fifteen  thousand  men  at  most,  were  separated  by 
thirty-five  or  forty  miles  of  poor  country,  and 
neither  force  strong  enough  to  make  head  against 
his  confident  opponent.  Johnston's  orders  on  this 
occasion,  as  well  as  throughout  the  campaign,  were 
well  enough,  but  they  were  in  every  instance  too 
late  to  meet  the  rapidly  changing  condition  of  af- 
fairs. Grant,  in  the  midst  of  Johnston's  scattered 
divisions,  had  the  short  line  to  all  possible  points 
of  the  field,  except  Vicksburg,  and,  aided  by  his 
own  staff,  as  well  as  by  the  quickened  movements 
of  both  Sherman  and  McPherson,  he  was  enabled 
in  every  instance  to  "get  there  first  with  the  most 
men."  Had  McClernand  been  as  active  and  ag- 
gressive as  he  should  have  been,  and  promptly  put 
in,  when  ordered,  his  three  other  divisions,  idle 
throughout  the  fight,  Pemberton 's  army  might  have 
been  taken  both  in  flank  and  rear,  as  well  as  in  front, 
and  captured  or  at  least  completely  scattered  at 
Champion's  Hill. 

The  capture  of  the  tete  de  pont  at  the  railroad 
crossing  of  the  Big  Black  by  Lawler  the  next  day 
has  already  been  sufficiently  described,  and  as  this 
opened  the  way  to  Vicksburg  and  made  it  easy  to 
bridge  the  river  wherever  the  Union  columns  might 
come  to  it,  the  rest  of  the  field  operations  were  sim- 
ple enough  for  all  concerned.  But  the  night  we 
reached  the  Big  Black  was  a  particularly  busy  one 
for  me. 

We  had  but  one  regular  pontoon  train  in  that 
201 


THE    VICKSBUEG    CAMPAIGN 

army,  and  as  Sherman's  advance  now  in  the  right 
front  was  hastening  its  march  to  the  river  at  Bridge- 
port on  the  direct  road  to  Hayne's  Bluff,  the  future 
base  of  supplies,  the  train  was  sent  to  him.  The 
bridge  was  promptly  laid,  and  by  the  time  Pem- 
berton  was  safe  inside  his  works,  Sherman  was  well 
on  his  way  to  the  new  base  on  the  Yazoo,  which, 
before  noon  of  the  next  day,  was  safely  within  his 
control.  But  McClernand's  corps  on  the  railroad, 
and  McPherson's,  with  its  right  at  Amsterdam,  had 
also  to  cross  the  river  without  delay,  and  to  this  end 
it  was  necessary  to  build  three  additional  bridges 
out  of  such  materials  as  could  be  found  at  hand.  The 
duty  of  designing  and  supervising  their  construc- 
tion was  mine.  Fortunately,  the  task  turned  out 
to  be  a  simple  one.  The  first  bridge  was  made  of 
the  dry  trestlework  timbers,  which  were  cut  down, 
dragged  to  the  water  one  by  one,  rafted  into  place 
and  kept  steady  by  longitudinal  side  rails,  all  lashed 
firmly  together  and  connected  at  both  ends  with 
proper  land  approaches.  The  actual  work  was  most 
efficiently  directed  by  Lieutenant  Hains  of  the  reg- 
ular engineers. 

The  second  bridge,  two  miles  above,  was  made 
of  cotton  bales  fastened  end  to  end  with  a  frame- 
work of  scantling  taken  from  nearby  plantation 
houses  and  covered  by  joists  and  flooring  held  to- 
gether by  rack  lashings  applied  in  the  usual  manner. 

The  third,  at  Amsterdam,  was  like  the  first,  but 
the  dry  timbers  composing  it  were  obtained  by  tear- 
ing down  cotton  gins  and  barns  in  and  near  the  vil- 
lage, dragging  them  to  the  river,  and  making  a  solid 
raft  of  them  across  the  sluggish  stream.  The  prac- 
tical work  on  the  second  and  third  was  ably  and 

205 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

rapidly  done  by  Captain  Hickenlooper,  McPher son's 
chief  engineer,  and  all  were  ready  for  the  troops 
to  begin  crossing  before  sun-up.  Each  served  its 
purpose  perfectly.  Counting  these  improvised 
bridges,  as  well  as  those  used  between  Milliken's 
Bend,  New  Carthage,  and  Bruinsburg  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Mississippi,  there  were  between  five 
thousand  and  six  thousand  feet  of  such  bridges  con- 
structed during  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  and  what 
is  still  more  noteworthy  is  the  fact  that  most  of 
them  were  built  during  the  night,  so  that  no  part  of 
the  army  was  compelled  to  delay  its  march  while 
the  bridges  were  under  construction. 

While  the  work  was  under  way,  Grant,  Eawlins, 
Dana,  and  I  spent  the  time  together,  passing  from 
bridge  site  to  bridge  site,  encouraging  officers  and 
men  in  their  novel  and  necessary  work.  And  no  one 
could  witness  what  was  done  on  the  Big  Black  with- 
out conceiving  the  deepest  admiration  for  the  Ameri- 
can volunteer  soldier  and  his  unequaled  capacity  for 
the  practical  work  of  bridge  building.  It  was  only 
necessary  to  indicate  and  briefly  explain  what  was 
wanted  and  leave  him  to  do  the  rest.  Other  soldiers 
may  be  as  courageous  as  he,  but  none  can  beat  him  in 
the  general  business  of  campaigning.  He  is  at  all 
times  alert,  active,  and  intelligent,  and,  I  must  add,  I 
never  saw  a  man  or  an  officer  of  volunteers  hesitate 
to  obey  orders.  All  he  ever  needs  is  reasonable  cer- 
tainty as  to  what  is  expected  of  him  and  then,  if 
fairly  well  instructed  and  led,  he  is  not  only  obe- 
dient but  invincible.  As  General  Grant  used  to  say, 
' '  the  common  soldiers  are  as  smart  as  town  folks, ' ' 
and  when  the  campaign  is  going  right,  which  they 
are  quick  to  perceive,  they  show  their  satisfaction 

206 


THE   VICKSBUEG   CAMPAIGN 

by  the  cheerfulness  with  which  they  march  and  the 
spirit  with  which  they  fight.  All  this  was  especially 
noticeable  in  the  campaign  east  of  the  river  which, 
from  start  to  finish,  was  as  gay  and  far  more  ex- 
citing than  a  picnic  excursion,  while  its  skirmishes 
and  battles  were  "gentle  and  joyous  jousts' '  which 
would  have  gladdened  the  hearts  of  the  Knights  at 
Ashbv  de  la  Zouche. 


207 


VIII 

SIEGE   AND   CAPTURE    OF  VICKSBURG 

First  assault — Complete  investment — Hot  weather — Grant 
rides  the  lines — McClernand  relieved — Close  invest- 
ment— Pemberton  surrenders — Reorganization  of  vol- 
unteer army. 

Grant's  army,  having  closed  in  on  Vicksburg, 
made  a  spirited  effort  the  next  morning  to  rush  the 
enemy's  entrenchments,  but  owing  principally  to 
the  rough  and  unknown  ground,  covered  by  fallen 
trees  and  entanglements,  the  assault  was  neces- 
sarily too  broken  and  disjointed  to  succeed.  It  was 
justified,  however,  by  the  chance  that  it  would  find 
the  enemy  too  much  discouraged  and  demoralized 
to  make  an  effective  defense  or  too  much  spread  out 
to  fully  cover  his  whole  line.  According  to  prece- 
dent such  a  dash  might  have  succeeded  the  evening 
before,  immediately  after  our  troops  arrived  on  the 
ground,  but  the  marching  columns  had  to  find  their 
places  and  deploy,  which  on  a  strange  terrain  took 
too  much  time.  Later  in  the  war,  darkness,  which 
came  on  before  the  troops  got  fully  into  position, 
might  have  favored  a  successful  attack,  as  at  Selma 
and  Columbus,  in  1865,  but  in  May,  1863,  no  one  had 
had  sufficient  experience  to  venture  upon  such  an  un- 
dertaking.   Besides  the  troops,  having  been  march- 

208 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE   OF  VICKSBURG 

ing  and  fighting  constantly  for  three  weeks,  were 
both  tired  and  short  of  regular  supplies,  and  this 
made  it  advisable  to  give  them  a  rest  while  roads 
were  being  opened  and  rations,  ammunition,  and 
clothing  were  coming  forward  from  the  transports 
at  Chickasaw  Landing. 

Within  three  days  all  wants  were  sufficiently  sup- 
plied to  warrant  a  general  assault,  but  the  enemy 
had  also  pulled  himself  together  and  strengthened 
his  position  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  it  secure. 
The  assault  was  made,  and  although  the  national 
troops  reached  the  entrenchments  at  several  salients, 
and  actually  broke  through  at  one,  the  general  re- 
sult was  a  complete  failure,  the  details  and  causes 
of  which  have  already  been  sufficiently  set  forth 
elsewhere  in  this  narrative. 

A  complete  investment  and  a  regular  siege  nec- 
essarily followed,  during  which  the  officers  and  men 
displayed  the  same  high  qualities  that  characterized 
their  deeds  in  the  previous  stages  of  the  campaign. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  there  were  present  at 
first  only  six,  and  at  no  time  more  than  eight,  West  • 
Point  officers,  including  Grant,  and  from  first  to  last 
not  a  single  experienced  engineer  soldier.  But  withal 
the  siege  operations,  including  sapping,  mining,  the 
construction  of  roads,  approaches,  shelters,  paral- 
lels, places  d'armes,  and  siege  materials  of  all  kinds, 
including  even  wooden  siege  mortars,  were  carried 
forward  with  as  much  order,  regularity,  and  per- 
fection as  would  have  been  practicable  in  any  Euro- 
pean army.  It  was  slow,  heavy,  and  exacting  work,  ( 
which  tried  the  patience  and  strength  of  all  from  Y 
highest  to  lowest.  The  hot  weather  of  June  was  at 
hand  and  soon  began  to  tell  heavily  upon  the  spirits 

209 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

of  the  army.  The  excitement  of  a  dashing  campaign 
had  died  out,  and  while  the  health  of  the  men  re- 
mained singularly  good  for  the  climate,  the  lack 
of  vegetables  and  seasonable  food,  combined  with 
the  work  and  restraint  of  the  siege,  soon  brought 
about  a  feeling  of  lassitude  and  depression  from 
which  none  but  the  toughest  and  most  buoyant  were 
exempt.  Staff  and  line  officers  suffered  alike.  Doc- 
tors and  caterers  cooperated  with  each  other,  and 
Doctor  Kittoe,  our  staff  surgeon,  whose  people  had 
served  in  India,  prescribed  curries  and  red  pepper 
for  the  messes  that  could  get  them,  but  at  best  they 
proved  to  be  palliatives,  hot  remedies. 

Even  Grant  himself,  when  the  weather  was  hot- 
test and  things  were  dullest,  felt  the  depression  and 
longed  for  a  change.  Before  the  end  of  the  first 
week  in  June  he  started  by  steamer  to  visit  an  out- 
lying detachment  on  the  Yazoo,  but  before  reaching 
his  destination  he  "fell  ill,"  which,  but  for  the 
timely  action  of  Dana  and  the  firmness  and  devo- 
tion of  Eawlins,  might  have  proved  a  great  mis- 
fortune both  to  Grant  and  his  army.  It  was  upon 
this  occasion  that  Eawlins,  in  the  late  and  silent 
hours  of  the  night,  wrote  his  remarkable  letter  of 
June  6,  1863,1  appealing  to  Grant's  sense  of  duty 
and  propriety.  And  it  was  the  next  morning  that 
this  fearless  and  faithful  staff  officer  took  measures 
for  the  exclusion  of  wine  and  liquor  from  the  head- 
quarters encampment  by  personally  searching  every 
suspected  tent  and  ruthlessly  breaking  every  bottle 

1  Dana's  f ' Eecollections  of  the  Civil  War/'  p.  82  et  seq.,  Wilson's 
"Life  of  John  A.  Eawlins."  "From  Chattanooga  to  Petersburg 
Under  Generals  Grant  and  Butler,"  by  William  Farrar  Smith, 
Houghten,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  pp.  179,  180. 

210 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG 

he  found  over  a  nearby  stump.  That  he  did  this 
without  resistance  from  any  quarter  shows  that  his 
action  was  not  only  pardonable  but  necessary.  It 
is  pleasant  to  add  that,  although  .Grant  said  some- 
thing about  keeping  a  case  of  champagne,  which  a 
friend  had  sent  him  to  celebrate  the  capture  of 
Vicksburg  with,  he  allowed  Rawlins  to  have  his7 
way  without  further  objection. 

When  it  is  recalled  that  this  episode  became 
known  to  the  leading  generals  of  the  army,  all  of 
whom  fully  approved  Rawlins '  intervention,  the 
character  of  the  transaction  will  be  better  under- 
stood. Human  nature  in  soldiers  as  well  as  in  com- 
mon people  is  a  complex  and  puzzling  thing,  but 
it  generally  bends  to  the  will  of  a  masterful  man. 

As  the  interested  reader  will  find  the  details  of 
this  siege  and  of  the  final  surrender  on  July  4, 
1863,  sufficiently  set  forth  in  the  military  histories 
of  the  day,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  such  personal 
incidents  as  seem  worthy  of  attention. 

After  the  failure  to  capture  Vicksburg  by  assault 
and  the  several  army  corps  and  divisions  had  taken 
up  their  definite  positions  within  the  lines  of  cir- 
cumvallation  and  countervallation,  it  became  Grant  's  - 
custom  to  ride  the  lines  daily  and  mine  to  accom- 
pany him  when  I  had  no  special  duty  to  take  me 
elsewhere.  On  the  first  of  these  rides,  just  after 
reaching  the  Hall  's  Ferry  road  and  turning  towards 
the  besieged  city,  we  met  two  elderly  women  walk- 
ing to  a  neighbor's,  and  as  we  saluted  them  politely 
one  of  them  raised  her  eyes  and  hesitatingly  said 
to  the  General,  who  was,  as  usual,  smoking,  and 
whose  well-worn  blouse  showed  no  sign  of  rank: 

"Soldier,  please  give  me  a  cigar?" 
211 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

At  this  the  General  reined  in  his  horse,  and, 
thrusting  his  hand  into  his  side  pocket,  took  out  a 
half  dozen  Havanas  and,  politely  handing  them 
to  her,  passed  on,  up  the  road. 

I,  however,  remained  at  a  halt  till  he  got  out  of 
earshot,  when  I  said: 

"  Madam,  you  had  better  make  those  cigars  go 
as  far  as  possible,  for  General  Grant  will  not 
be  coming  this  way  every  day  to  keep  you 
supplied.  * ' 

A  few  rods  farther  on  we  turned  into  a  stately, 
white  mansion,  over  which  a  field-hospital  flag  was 
flying,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  its  condition.  We 
had  hardly  dismounted  and  got  inside  when  one  of 
the  ladies  whom  we  had  just  met  came  forward  in 
a  state  of  confusion,  and,  after  offering  her  apolo- 
gies for  her  friend  who  had  addressed  the  General 
in  such  familiar  terms,  explained  that  the  mansion 
was  known  as  Magnolia  Hall,  and  belonged  to  Mr. 
Latham,  her  husband,  and  she  made  haste  to  pre- 
sent us  to  him  and  her  family.  We  found  in  the 
drawing  room  several  charming  young  women,  all 
of  whom,  except  a  visitor  from  Long  Island,  were 
sympathizers  with  the  Southern  cause.  They  were, 
however,  well-bred  and  accomplished,  and  it  was 
pleasant  to  reassure  and  protect  them.  I  shall  not 
add  that  the  certainty  of  finding  them  there  after- 
wards made  us  more  frequent  visitors  than  we  oth- 
erwise should  have  been,  but  I  cheerfully  admit  that 
we  never  rode  that  way  without  stopping  to  pay 
our  respects  to  the  ladies  and  to  enjoy  their  witty 
but  disloyal  sallies. 

The  owner  was  a  planter,  past  the  military  age, 
but,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  we  had  every  as- 

212 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURQ 

surance  of  his  loyalty  and  good  will,  I  learned  long 
years  afterward  that  he  had  been  paid  most  inade- 
quately for  the  use  of  his  house  and  nothing  what- 
ever for  the  injury  done  his  furniture,  bedding,  car- 
pets, and  hangings  by  the  sick  and  wounded  who 
filled  his  luxurious  rooms.  It  is  sad  to  relate  that 
the  house  burned  down  shortly  after  peace  was  de- 
clared, and  the  owner,  who  lost  his  slaves  and  his 
lands,  died  impoverished,  while  his  daughters,  al- 
though married,  were  scattered  and  embittered  for 
life.  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  they  never  recovered 
from  the  losses  inflicted  on  them  and  their  helpless 
children  by  the  war.  Thus  the  innocent  are  too  fre- 
quently made  to  suffer  more  than  the  guilty,  and 
with  all  my  experience  I  know  of  no  case  more  piti- 
ful than  the  one  I  have  just  described. 

Fortunately,  the  grounds  occupied  by  the  op- 
posing forces  in  and  about  Vicksburg  were  with  this 
exception  completely  deserted  by  the  inhabitants, 
and  we  had  no  other  case  brought  so  forcibly  to  our 
notice  till  after  the  place  had  surrendered,  when  it 
became  our  duty  as  well  as  our  pleasure  to  console 
and  feed  the  destitute  and  to  heal  the  wounds  of 
war  as  far  as  circumstances  would  permit. 

After  the  siege  was  well  under  way,  we  varied 
our  rides  occasionally  by  going  toward  the  landing 
for  a  swim  in  Chickasaw  Bayou,  or  one  of  its  clear, 
cool  lagoons.  The  country  was  covered  by  a  dense 
forest  and,  at  places  in  the  river  valley,  by  exten- 
sive canebrakes,  but  was  quite  free  of  guerrillas, 
hence  the  riding  and  swimming  were  entirely  safe 
except  for  our  own  marauders.  Dana  and  I  were 
one  day  threatened  by  a  small  party  of  the  latter 
outside  of  camp  lines,  and  although  one  of  them 

213 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

struck  me  with  an  iron  bucket  I  managed  to  hold 
them  in  check  while  Dana  galloped  to  headquarters 
and  brought  the  provost  guard.  As  I  was  unarmed, 
it  looked  for  a  while  as  though  I  might  be  roughly 
handled,  but,  fortunately,  the  guard  came  in  time 
to  prevent  any  further  violence. 

One  of  our  rides  extended  to  Mrs.  Johnson's 
house  on  the  Yazoo,  seven  or  eight  miles  from 
camp  as  the  crow  flies,  and  as  the  scenery  was  pic- 
turesque and  the  shade  of  the  overhanging  trees 
most  restful  and  cooling,  we  concluded  to  return  by 
a  more  direct  route,  through  the  bottom  that  none 
of  us  had  traversed.  Besides  General  Grant,  there 
were  half  a  dozen  officers  and  eight  or  ten  orderlies 
in  the  party,  all  of  whom  enjoyed  the  outing  greatly. 
The  General  and  I  were  leading  as  usual,  when  quite 
unexpectedly  we  came  to  a  lagoon,  the  outer  end  of 
which  had  but  little  water  in  it,  but  its  bed  was 
filled  with  black,  slimy  ooze,  which  looked  impass- 
able. As  I  was  supposed  to  be  the  guide,  it  was  up 
to  me  to  get  them  through.  It  was  growing  late 
and  as  it  was  ten  or  twelve  miles  by  the  way  we  had 
come,  and  not  more  than  three  by  the  compass  to 
headquarters,  it  was  important  that  we  should  get 
across  and  not  turn  back.  Spurring  forward  and 
looking  over  the  ground,  I  discovered  an  extensive 
drift  pile  near  by  containing  a  good  many  fence 
rails  and  other  light  stuff,  whereupon  I  dismounted 
the  orderlies  and,  assisted  by  such  officers  as  were 
disposed  to  help,  we  constructed  a  corduroy  road 
forty  or  fifty  feet  long,  and  in  less  than  half  an  hour 
were  safely  over  and  on  our  way  to  camp.  Dana 
and  Eawlins  as  usual  gave  willing  assistance,  while 
Grant,  seeing  at  a  glance  that  the  plan  would  suc- 

214 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG 

ceed,  expressed  his  approval  and  watched  its  prog- 
ress with  cheerful  satisfaction. 

The  incident  was  a  trivial  one,  but  it  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  others,  and  taught  the  nonprofes- 
sional members  of  the  staff  a  lesson  which  they 
never  forgot. 

During  the  whole  of  the  campaign  and  siege  I 
kept  a  journal  showing  daily  and  hourly  what  we 
learned  of  the  features  of  the  country,  its  roads, 
streams,  bridges,  fords;  the  movement  of  our  own 
troops  and  those  of  the  enemy  as  they  developed; 
what  we  gathered  from  prisoners,  deserters,  trav- 
elers, contrabands,  and  natives;  where  the  General 
and  his  staff  went,  when  they  started,  what  they  did, 
and  when  they  got  into  camp.  In  it  I  also  recorded 
the  resources  of  the  country,  the  distance  from  place 
to  place,  the  condition  of  the  roads,  the  rumored 
movements  and  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  the  in- 
formation collected  from  local  newspapers  and  cap- 
tured mails,  and  in  general  such  circumstances  and 
facts,  great  and  small,  as  might  be  useful  or  even 
interesting  to  the  commanding  general.  This  jour- 
nal was  closely  written  in  pencil  and  always  by  my- 
self, except  when  I  was  absent  from  headquarters, 
when  Dana  kept  it  for  me.1 

It  gives  many  inside  views  of  what  was  going  on 
among  the  people,  and,  also,  of  what  the  Confederate 
soldiers  had  to  say  about  their  hardships,  their 
marches,  and  even  their  officers.  One  young  man  at 
Edward's  Depot  wrote  disparagingly  about  his  bri- 
gade commander:  "There's  Old  Featherstone !  He 
has  no  humanity  about  him ;  his  head  is  as  flat  on 

1  Journal  Military  Service  Institution,  No.  CLIV,  pp.  93-109, 
and  No.  CLV,  pp.  261-275. 

215 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

top  as  an  African  Negro's,  and  he's  as  mean  as  the 
devil  wants  him  to  be. ! ' 

But  among  more  important  matters  it  contains 
the  two  dispatches  from  McClernand  to  Grant  which 
figured  in  the  controversy  between  those  officers, 
but  unfortunately  another,  which  preceded  them, 
was  sent  to  Quimby  with  an  endorsement  directing 
him  to  take  his  division  to  McClernand 's  assistance. 
To  save  time  Quimby  endorsed  an  order  on  it  and 
sent  it  to  Colonel  Boomer,  directing  him  to  lead  off 
with  his  brigade.  Shortly  after  arriving  at  the 
scene  of  action,  Boomer  was  killed  and  the  dispatch 
disappeared  forever. 

The  entry  connected  with  the  later  dispatches  is 
in  Dana's  hand.  It  was  made  May  22,  at  6  p.  m., 
and  runs  as  follows : 

At  about  two  o'clock  this  afternoon  General  Grant 
received  the  following  dispatch  from  General  McClernand : 

Headquarters,  Thirteenth  Army  Corps, 
In  the  field  near  Vicksburg,  Miss., 
May  22,  1863. 
General  : 

We  have  gained  the  enemy's  entrenchments  at  several 
points,  but  are  brought  to  a  stand. 

I  have  sent  word  to  McArthur  to  re-enforce  me  if  he 
can. 

Would  it  not  be  best  to  concentrate  the  whole  or  a  part 
of  his  command  on  this  point? 

John  A.  McClernand, 
Maj.  Gen.  commanding. 
Maj.  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant. 

P.  S. — I  have  received  your  dispatch.  My  troops  are 
all  engaged  and  I  cannot  withdraw  any  to  re-enforce 
others.  McC. 

216 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG 

The  following  was  received  at  four  o  'clock : 

Headquarters,  Thirteenth  Army  Corps, 
May  23,  3.15  p.  m. 
General  : 

I  have  received  your  dispatch  in  regard  to  General 
Quimby's  division  and  General  McArthur's  division.  As 
soon  as  they  arrive  I  will  press  the  enemy  with  all  possible 
speed  and  doubt  not  that  I  will  force  my  way  through. 
I  have  lost  no  ground.  My  men  are  in  two  of  the  enemy's 
forts,  but  they  are  commanded  by  rifle  pits  in  the  rear. 
Several  prisoners  have  been  taken,  who  intimate  that  the 
rear  is  strong.    At  this  moment  I  am  hard  pressed. 

John  A.  McClernand, 
Maj.  Gen.  commanding. 
Maj.  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant, 
Department  of  Tennessee. 

In  consequence  of  the  last  dispatch  the  assault 
was  renewed  in  Sherman's  and  McPherson's  front 
without  success  and  with  the  loss  of  about  one  thou- 
sand men  killed  and  wounded. 

These  dispatches,  and  especially  the  parts  which 
I  have  put  in  italics,  together  with  McClernand's 
threatened  disobedience  of  orders,  his  profane  lan- 
guage described  elsewhere,  and  the  order  issued  des- 
ignating his  corps  as  "the  Army  of  the  Mississippi' ' 
and  unduly  magnifying  its  deeds,  while  minimizing 
those  of  Sherman  and  McPherson,  were  what  finally 
exhausted  Grant's  patience  and  caused  him  to  re- 
lieve McClernand  and  send  him  to  his  home  in  Illi- 
nois. 

It  is  but  repeating  what  has  been  stated  several 
times  before  to  say  that  after  this  action  was  taken 
perfect  subordination  and  good  feeling  prevailed 

217 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

throughout  that  army.  Keenforcements  poured  in 
from  the  North  and  by  the  end  of  June  raised  our 
effective  strength  to  about  eighty-five  thousand  men, 
mostly  infantry  and  field  artillery.  With  the  steady 
progress  of  the  siege  operations,  the  gradual  sev- 
ering of  communication  between  the  besieged  and 
the  Confederacy,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  garri- 
son's munitions  and  supplies,  it  daily  became  more 
and  more  certain  that  Johnston  could  not  raise  the 
siege,  and  that  Pemberton  would  soon  be  forced  by 
starvation,  if  not  by  a  successful  assault,  to  sur- 
render at  discretion.  My  journal  shows  most  of  the 
facts  which  led  to  this  conclusion,  as  well  as  those 
that  enabled  us  to  predict  within  a  few  days  just 
when  the  surrender  must  take  place. 

From  the  habit  which  grew  up  between  the  op- 
posing sentries  and  videttes,  as  soon  as  the  heads  of 
sap  were  at  the  enemy's  ditches,  the  actual  condi- 
tion of  the  enemy  became  known  with  increasing  cer- 
tainty. On  Lawler's  front  it  was  a  common  thing, 
toward  the  last  days  of  the  siege,  to  exchange  an 
occasional  drink  of  whiskey  for  a  Vicksburg  news- 
paper. 

The  scarcity  of  percussion  caps  and  artillery  am- 
munition was  admitted  soon  after  the  investment, 
and  the  silence  of  the  enemy,  except  under  extreme 
provocation,  confirmed  the  admission.  It  soon  be- 
came known,  also,  that  the  garrison  of  the  besieged 
town  was  on  short  rations,  and  with  the  certainty 
that  the  investment  on  both  sides  of  the  river  was 
complete,  and  that  all  communication  with  the  sur- 
rounding country  was  effectively  cut  off,  it  required 
no  prophet  to  discern  that  the  end  was  near  at 
hand.    Indeed,  by  the  middle  of  June  we  were  cer- 

218 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG 

tain  that  the  defense  could  not  be  prolonged  beyond 
the  middle  of  July. 

While  for  reasons  of  economy  the  enemy  wasted 
no  ammunition  on  us,  it  was  altogether  different 
with  our  men,  many  of  whom  were  expert  riflemen. 
Every  commanding  point  in  our  lines  was  occupied 
by  sharp-shooters  and,  in  addition,  several  wooden 
turrets  were  built  at  points  which  gave  a  plunging 
and  enfilading  fire  by  which  many  of  the  enemy  were 
picked  off.  One  of  the  notable  features  of  the  siege 
was  the  voluntary  practice  of  the  good  marksmen, 
many  of  whom  selected  advantageous  positions  be- 
hind stumps  and  head  logs,  either  to  the  front  or  in 
the  main  line  of  works,  and,  after  covering  them- 
selves effectively  from  observation  and  crossfire, 
made  it  their  daily  practice  to  watch  the  enemy  and, 
whenever  a  head  or  even  a  hand  showed  itself  above 
the  defenses,  to  fire  at  it  singly  or  in  groups,  and 
it  is  to  this  practice,  which  seemed  to  have  a  strange 
fascination  for  men  of  a  sporting  turn  of  mind,  that 
was  due  the  unusually  large  number  of  the  enemy 
who  were  found  in  the  hospitals  after  the  surrender, 
suffering  from  wounds  in  the  head,  arms,  and  hands. 
The  curious  thing  about  it  was  that  no  one 
seemed  to  feel  any  more  compunction  in  taking  a 
good  shot  at  an  unknown  enemy  than  at  a  deer,  and 
yet,  when  they  got  to  know  each  other  at  the  ad- 
vanced posts,  there  was  a  punctilious  observance  by 
both  sides  of  the  informal  truce  which  was  early 
established.  In  other  words,  the  mounted,  passing, 
or  concealed  enemy  was  always  in  danger,  while 
those  within  talking  distance  or  acquaintance  were 
never  molested  without  due  warning.  In  recogni- 
tion of  these  natural  conventions  I  never  exposed 

219 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

myself  unnecessarily  during  daylight,  but  after 
nightfall  I  took  advantage  of  all  the  open  roads  and 
short  cuts,  with  the  feeling  that  I  was  running  but 
little  risk.  And  yet  the  rebels,  like  our  own  people, 
had  no  compunction  at  firing  on  the  passing  but 
unseen  enemy,  especially  when  he  could  be  plainly 
heard.  In  this  way  I  had  several  close  calls.  Once 
a  shot  just  missed  me  and  my  brother,  riding  with 
me,  and  severely  wounded  my  orderly  behind  us. 

With  the  knowledge  of  the  exact  state  of  affairs 
spreading  throughout  the  army,  a  spirit  of  friendly 
banter  grew  up  between  the  opposing  forces  which 
would  have  been  impossible  had  they  belonged  to 
different  races  and  spoken  different  languages.  A 
common  question  from  the  inside  was :  "  Yank,  why 
don't  you  all  make  a  general  assault  and  end  this 
thing Vf  Or,  "When  are  you  all  going  to  attack 
again  and  close  up  this  siege  f "  A  common  answer 
was:  "Oh,  don't  be  impatient,  Johnny,  we  are  in 
no  hurry.  We  are  just  guarding  prisoners  and  it 
would  be  inhuman  to  fire  on  them  unless  they  under- 
take to  break  out."  This  was  frequently  varied  by 
the  promise  of  "fireworks  on  the  4th  of  July,"  from 
which  the  impression  got  abroad  among  both  men 
and  officers  that  we  might  do  something  desperate 
on  that  day,  and  that  it  would  save  a  ' '  further  effu- 
sion of  blood"  if  they  should  forestall  us  by  sur- 
rendering. We  knew  pretty  well  on  our  side  that 
the  other  side  had  enough  food  still  on  hand  to  last 
several  days,  and  we  were  therefore  taken  somewhat 
by  surprise  late  in  the  afternoon  of  July  3  by  the 
display  of  a  white  flag  on  the  enemy's  works  and 
the  appearance  of  Major  General  Bowen  under  a 
flag  of  truce,  bearing  a  letter  to  General  Grant.    Of 

220 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE   OF  VICKSBURG 

course,  everybody  was  on  the  qui  vive  to  learn  what 
it  meant,  and  it  was  not  long  before  it  became  known 
that  Pemberton  had  asked  for  an  armistice  and  the 
appointment  of  three  commissioners  on  each  side 
to  arrange  terms  of  capitulation.  The  usual  desire 
was  expressed:  "To  save  the  further  effusion  of 
blood,  which  must  otherwise  be  shed  to  a  frightful 
extent,"  and  this  was  backed  up  by  the  boastful 
claim  that  the  garrison  could  "maintain  its  position 
for  an  indefinite  period. ' ' 

Of  course,  Grant  saw  that  the  essence  of  this 
thinly  veiled  proposition  was  an  immediate  surren- 
der, and  with  pardonable  pride  replied  that 1 ?  the  use- 
less effusion  of  blood' \  could  be  ended  at  any  time 
.  .  .  "by  an  unconditional  surrender  of  the  city  and 
garrison."  He  followed  this  by  saying:  "Men  who 
have  shown  so  much  endurance  and  courage  as  those 
now  in  Vicksburg  will  always  challenge  the  respect 
of  an  adversary,  and  I  can  assure  you  will  be  treated 
with  all  the  respect  due  to  prisoners  of  war." 

Having  written  this  he  concluded  his  note  with 
the  declaration  that  he  did  not  favor  the  appoint- 
ment of  commissioners  because  he  had  no  other 
terms  to  offer  than  those  already  indicated. 

To  my  great  satisfaction,  this  reply  was  handed 
to  me  for  delivery  to  the  Confederate  flag,  and  I  was 
directed  to  wait  for  such  reply  as  might  be  sent. 
This  took  me  till  a  late  hour  that  night,  but  I  was 
well  repaid  for  the  vigil  by  the  surrender  which  fol- 
lowed the  next  morning. 

Pemberton 's  reply,  brought  by  Colonel  Locket, 
who  had  been  a  cadet  with  me  at  West  Point,  was 
followed  by  the  surrender  of  the  place  on  the  4th 
of  July,  on  Grant's  terms,  which  were  unnecessarily 

221 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

lenient.  Instead  of  holding  the  captured  army  at 
Vicksburg  or  sending  it  north  and  scattering  and 
disintegrating  it,  Grant  required  only  that  it  should 
march  out,  lay  down  its  flags  and  stack  arms,  and 
then  return  to  camp,  where  he  fed  it  till  it  had  made 
out  a  full  set  of  muster  rolls  and  its  officers  and 
men  had  given  their  individual  parole  not  to  serve 
against  the  United  States  till  duly  exchanged. 

These  preliminaries  required  several  days,  and 
when  completed  the  whole  army,  with  the  exception 
of  seven  or  eight  hundred  men,  who  were  tired  of 
the  rebellion  and  declined  to  serve  any  longer, 
marched  back  into  the  Confederacy  with  all  their 
organizations,  by  division,  brigade,  regiment  and 
company  complete.  Practically  all  they  gave  up 
were  their  flags  and  arms,  and  as  soon  as  these  could 
be  replaced  they  were  again  in  the  Confederate 
ranks  fighting  to  overthrow  the  Union.  The  prob- 
ability of  such  a  sequel  was  apparent  to  all  at  our 
headquarters  as  well  as  to  Halleck  in  Washington, 
who  finally  foresaw  the  danger  and  directed  Grant, 
July  8,  to  retain  them  as  prisoners  of  war  "till  fur- 
ther orders.' ' 1  The  matter  was  discussed  with  the 
General,  but,  claiming  that  he  did  not  have  sufficient 
transports  to  carry  them  to  Cairo,  he  let  them  march 
out,  practically  as  Pemberton  had  originally  pro- 
posed. It  is  now  certain  that  his  sullen  opponent, 
by  good  management  or  good  fortune,  outwitted 
Grant  in  this  arrangement.  But  little  was  said  of 
it  by  the  Administration  or  the  press  at  large,  but 
subsequent  events  at  Chickamauga  and  Chattanooga 
showed  plainly  that  it  was  a  serious  mistake  which 

^adeau's  "Military  History  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,' '  Vol.  1,  p. 
663. 

222 


SIEGE   AND  CAPTURE   OF   VICKSBURG 

cost  the  country  a  great  many  lives,  and  for  which 
the  leniency  of  the  victorious  general  was  mainly 
responsible. 

The  generous  terms  of  the  capitulation  were  but 
poorly  requited  by  the  Confederate  leaders.  Shortly 
after  they  were  arranged,  Grant  and  his  staff  en- 
tered the  captured  works  and  rode  to  Pemberton's 
headquarters,  where  they  were  received  with  the 
coldest  formality.  No  one  even  offered  Grant  a 
seat,  and  when  he  asked  for  a  glass  of  water  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Confederate  staff  merely  told  him  where 
he  could  find  it.  The  situation  was  a  trying  one,  but 
Pemberton  and  his  officers  met  it  badly.  Their  be- 
havior was  unhandsome  and  disagreeable  in  the  ex- 
treme, while  that  of  Grant  and  his  staff  was  both 
modest  and  magnanimous  to  an  extent  to  which  the 
enemy  had  no  just  claim.  Three  young  West  Point- 
ers, Saunders,  Locket,  and  Landis,  were  polite  and 
courteous,  in  recognition  of  which  their  haversacks 
and  canteens  were  well  filled  with  provisions  and 
whiskey  when  they  bade  us  good-by. 

Without  showing  a  trace  of  ill  feeling  or  in 
any  way  recognizing  the  slight  put  upon  him,  the 
modest  hero  of  Vicksburg  terminated  the  interview 
as  soon  as  possible  and  then  established  his  head- 
quarters at  the  commodious  house  of  a  planter's 
wife  overlooking  the  river.  It  had  been  reported 
that  she  had  made  a  Union  flag  and  threatened  to 
hoist  it,  but  we  saw  nothing  of  it,  although  we  re- 
mained there  for  over  a  month  and  became  quite  in- 
timate with  the  family. 

The  next  day,  July  5,  I  rode  the  entire  line  of 
rebel  entrenchments  and  made  a  critical  examina- 
tion of  them.    I  found  them  to  consist  mainly  of  rifle 

223 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

trench,  not  particularly  strong  or  well  laid  out,  but 
difficult  of  approach  by  troops  in  anything  like  good 
order.  The  line  followed  generally  the  top  of  the 
ridge,  with  here  and  there  a  redan  or  a  stronger 
emplacement  for  field  or  siege  guns,  and  occasionally 
a  loop  or  second  line  sweeping  the  gorge  of  a  work 
in  front.  The  ground  outside,  generally  broken  and 
rough,  was  further  obstructed  by  fallen  timber  and 
entanglements  in  such  manner  as  to  render  an  as- 
sault even  by  the  roads  and  wider  boyaus  extremely 
costly  and  difficult.  It  was  evident  that  nothing  but 
the  most  methodical  and  painstaking  preparation 
could  insure  a  successful  assault,  and  that  the  de- 
fence could  have  stood  us  off  indefinitely  had  the 
garrison  been  properly  supplied  with  provisions  and 
ammunition. 

From  the  abundant  experience  of  this  siege  and 
defense  it  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  no  well- 
constructed,  well-defended  line  of  earthworks  or  rifle 
trench  can  be  successfully  assaulted  by  troops  carry- 
ing the  same  arms  as  the  defenders,  unless  they 
have  a  great  preponderance  of  numbers  and  have 
made  every  possible  preparation,  not  only  for  the 
attack,  but  for  instantly  following  up  every  prelim- 
inary success.  Even  with  a  great  preponderance 
of  force,  the  assailants  should  work  with  all  their 
might  for  a  surprise  or  for  some  other  advantage 
which  would  neutralize  the  entrenchments  to  be  at- 
tacked. In  those  days  the  books  on  field  fortifica- 
tions dwelt  upon  the  advantage  of  Rogniat's  line  or 
other  entrenchments  more  or  less  regularly  laid  out 
with  bastions,  flanking  arrangements,  curtains,  and 
openings,  but  I  know  of  no  instance  during  the  en- 
tire war  where  anything  so  methodical  was  resorted 

224 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG 

to  in  an  active  campaign.  In  every  case  that  came 
under  my  observation,  except  at  Selma,  the  practice 
was  similar  to  that  at  Vicksburg,  a  simple  line  of 
rifle  trench  conforming  to  the  ground,  partly  dug 
out  and  partly  thrown  up,  with  here  and  there  a 
heavier  section  for  artillery.  At  Selma,  situated 
as  it  was  on  a  level  plain  and  covered  by  a  regular 
bastioned  line  of  strong  profile,  behind  a  stockade 
and  mounting  thirty-two  guns,  all  constructed  for 
permanent  defense,  we  succeeded  partly  by  surprise 
and  partly  because  our  troops  were  armed  with 
Spencer  magazine  carbines  and  rifles,  while  the 
enemy  had  nothing  but  old-fashioned  muzzle  loaders. 
But  even  this  case  strengthens  the  conclusion  that 
for  the  emergencies  of  a  campaign,  with  long-range 
rapid-fire  small  arms,  the  simple  line  of  rifle  trench 
is  all-sufficient  and  can  be  easily  held  against  a  su- 
perior number  of  similar  troops  in  the  open  field. 
The  only  chance  of  victory  over  such  lines,  all  other 
things  being  equal,  must  be  looked  for  in  stratagem 
or  in  a  turning  movement.  Yet  Grant,  in  the  cam-1 
paign  against  Eichmond  and  Petersburg,  and  Sher- 
man in  that  against  Atlanta,  in  spite  of  all  their 
previous  experience,  frequently  resorted  to  the  di- 
rect assault  of  temporary  entrenchments,  and  in 
nearly  every  instance  failed  to  gain  any  adequate 
advantage.  Vicksburg  taught  this  lesson,  while  the 
great  campaigns  just  mentioned  wrote  it  perma- 
nently into  the  modern  art  of  war. 

But  the  Port  Eoyal  expedition  and  the  Antietam 
campaign,  where  I  was  a  subordinate,  gave  me  un- 
usual opportunity  for  observation.  Having  been 
constantly  on  the  move  in  both  I  picked  up  much 
information  in  reference  to  the  crudities  of  our  mili- 

225 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

tary  system.  These  were  both  confirmed  and  en- 
larged in  the  campaign  and  siege  of  Vicksburg, 
where  I  held  a  much  more  important  position.  To 
any  educated  military  man  it  was  evident  on  all 
hands  that  the  Western  volunteers,  no  matter  what 
state  they  came  from,  were  intelligent,  vigorous,  pa- 
triotic, and  naturally  amenable  to  discipline  and 
were  good  soldiers  in  every  respect  except  in  in- 
struction. This,  coming  from  officers  essentially  of 
the  same  class,  was  necessarily  crude  and  imperfect, 
but  even  the  officers  were  in  many  respects  excel- 
lent. They  were  generally  capable  of  learning  their 
duties  and  willing  to  perform  them,  but  the  system 
under  which  they  labored  in  many  instances  para- 
lyzed their  efforts.  Those  who  worked  hardest  and 
fought  best  lost  the  most  men.  Their  regiments  and 
companies  were  soonest  run  down  and  reduced  to 
a  state  of  inefficiency,  and  here  is  where  the  mis- 
chief first  showed  itself.  Instead  of  keeping  the 
road  to  the  front  crowded  with  recruits  for  the  deci- 
mated companies  and  battalions,  the  state  authori- 
ties, when  they  did  anything  at  all,  organized  new 
regiments,  mostly  with  new  officers,  and  sent  them 
fresh  and  green  to  the  field,  where  they  had  to 
learn  not  only  their  tactics,  but  how  to  march,  camp, 
cook,  and  care  for  themselves.  Obviously  all  this 
would  have  come  much  easier,  more  quickly,  and  at 
far  less  expense  of  time  and  money  had  the  men 
been  enlisted  or  selected  by  conscription  and  sent 
direct  to  the  regiments  from  their  own  region. 

It  had  always  been  a  favorite  idea  with  military 
writers  that  while  our  regular  army  should  be  kept 
in  time  of  peace,  few  in  numbers,  but  highly  trained 
and  finely  equipped  for  such  emergencies  as  might 

226 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE   OF  VICKSBURG 

arise  on  the  Indian  frontier  or  elsewhere,  it  should 
be  expanded  in  times  of  war  in  such  manner  as 
would  make  it  fit  to  cope  with  any  enemy  that  might 
assail  us.  In  practice  this  was  never  done.  A  few 
regiments  were  added  from  time  to  time,  but  they 
were  always  made  up  of  raw  recruits  drawn  from 
the  ranks  of  the  people  just  as  the  volunteers  were. 
In  time  they,  of  course,  became  regulars,  and  be- 
longing to  a  national  army  and  a  fixed  system,  they 
became  good  soldiers,  but  even  this  method  of  ex- 
pansion was  unpopular  with  Congress  and  never 
gave  sufficient  reenforcement  to  produce  any  influ- 
ence whatever  on  the  course  of  the  war.  On  the 
whole,  it  was  wasted  effort  and  expense.  I  had  fre- 
quently heard  Grant,  whose  army  was  made  up  al-*^ 
most  entirely  of  volunteers,  and  who  needed  regular 
officers  more  than  anything  else,  say  that,  so  far  as 
the  Western  armies  were  concerned,  it  would  have 
been  a  great  deal  better  if  the  regular  army,  except 
the  staff  and  the  staff  corps,  had  been  disbanded  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  and  the  officers  sent 
home  to  their  respective  states  for  the  purpose  of 
entering  and  helping  organize  the  volunteer  army. 
I  held  this  view  from  the  first  and  did  all  I  could 
to  get  a  volunteer  regiment,  but,  as  this  narrative 
shows,  I  failed,  and  finally  gave  up  the  effort  en- 
tirely. But  I  never  changed  my  opinion  on  this 
important  subject.  On  the  contrary,  the  more  I 
studied  it  and  the  wider  my  experience  became,  the 
more  firmly  did  I  become  convinced  that  our  system 
should  be  reformed  and  our  army  nationalized,  and 
to  this  end  I  made  it  a  practice  to  confer  with  our 
generals,  all  of  whom  it  will  be  remembered  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  President  and  commissioned  "by  and 

227 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate."  They 
were  classed  as  "United  States  Volunteers,' '  and  by 
that  name  and  fact  immediately  took  on  greater  stat- 
ure and  authority,  and,  I  may  add,  I  never  met  one 
who  had  come  to  be  recognized  as  a  good  officer  that 
did  not  favor  the  nationalization  of  the  Volunteer 
Army. 

So  greatly  was  I  impressed  by  that  proposition 
that  I  made  it  the  subject  of  correspondence  with 
all  the  congressmen  and  leading  men  I  knew.  One 
of  my  letters  finally  found  its  way,  without  my 
knowledge  or  procurement,  into  the  editorial  page 
of  the  New  York  Times  for  April  12,  1863.  It 
was  introduced  under  the  caption:  "Necessity  of 
a  Eeorganization  of  our  Armies — Points  to  bet 
Beached. '  ■    The  editorial  remarks  run  as  follows : 

In  view  of  the  probable  and  speedy  enforcement  of  the 
Conscription  act,  and  the  consequent  necessity  for  the 
reorganization  of  our  armies,  we  offer  for  the  earnest  con- 
sideration of  the  country  some  views  written  during  this 
war  by  an  officer  of  talent,  rank  and  experience  in  the 
regular  army.  He  has  served  on  the  staffs  of  Generals 
Sherman  and  Hunter  at  Port  Royal,  McClellan  at  An- 
tietam,  and,  recently,  Grant  in  Mississippi.  His  plans 
have  been  submitted  to  General  Grant,  General  McCler- 
nand,  General  McPherson  and  General  Logan,  as  well  as 
to  many  others  of  the  Western  army,  and  received  the 
warm  approval  of  all  those  officers.  Indeed,  no  man  can 
have  been  long  in  the  service  and  not  acknowledge  the 
absolute  necessity  of  a  reorganization  of  our  armies.  This 
it  is  which  the  rebels  possess  and  we  lack ;  this  it  is  which 
too  often  turns  the  scales  when  they  are  equally  balanced ; 
this  it  is  which  is  likely  eventually  to  decide  the  great 
contest  in  which  we  are  engaged. 

Some  of  the  views  expressed  below  have  already  been 

228 


SIEGE  AND   CAPTURE   OF  VICKSBURG 

adopted,  but  we  allow  them  to  remain,  as  the  fact  of  their 
acceptance  by  the  Government  will  assist  in  giving  weight 
to  the  judgment  of  the  Writer. 

What  follows  is  quoted  verbatim  from  my  letter, 
under  the  head  of 

ARMY  REORGANIZATION 

Organization  is  a  subject  of  which  our  army  knows 
little,  and  the  people  and  Congress  nothing,  but  upon 
which,  more  than  anything  else,  depends  the  efficiency  of 
all  armed  forces.  A  just  distribution  of  labor  is  a  military 
as  well  as  a  civil  necessity.  This  is  secured  only  by  a  proper 
organization. 

First,  then,  our  grades  of  general  officers  are  by  no 
means  complete.  We  should  have  lieutenant  generals  and 
generals,  in  addition  to  the  present. 

Second:  The  adjutant  general's  department  should  be 
reorganized  and  have  its  duties  defined.  The  best  model 
is  that  of  the  French  Etat  Major.  Its  officers  should  be 
selected  with  more  care,  given  more  rank,  and  be  held 
more  strictly  accountable  for  the  prompt  performance  of 
their  duty.  As  an  evidence  of  the  inefficiency  of  our  pres- 
ent system,  see  the  absolute  want  of  knowledge  concerning 
the  strength  of  the  National  armed  forces  to-day  (August 
10,  1862).  Mr.  Senator  Wilson  probably  obtained  from 
General  Thomas  his  data  for  the  statement  that  we  had 
too  many  men  in  the  field  by  150,000 !  There  is  probably 
not  an  army  in  the  field  whose  strength  is  properly  ac- 
counted for.  There  is  probably  not  a  general  who  does 
not  waste  half  his  time  in  attending  to  details  which 
should  be  disposed  of  by  a  "well-regulated  staff.' ' 

Third:  The  Inspector  General's  Department  is  simply 
a  nonentity — totally  inefficient  and  devoid  of  power  to  cor- 
rect evils,  where  by  chance  it  may  find  them.  Every 
brigade,  division  and  corps  ought  to  have  its  inspector 
selected  with  a  special  reference  to  his  soldierly  qualities 

229 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

and  general  knowledge  of  organizations  and  the  different 
arms ;  and  in  our  armies  there  should  be  special  inspectors 
of  cavalry  and  artillery — all  empowered,  as  officers  of  the 
staff,  to  correct  all  disarrangements,  as  a  well-digested  sys- 
tem of  regulations  should  prescribe.  There  is  no  depart- 
ment of  the  military  service  by  which  a  more  salutary 
influence  could  be  produced  than  by  the  inspector  gen- 
eral's, thoroughly  reorganized  and  set  to  work. 

Fourth:  The  Quartermaster's  Department  is  sadly  in 
need  of  internal  regulation.  Meigs  is  a  very  able  man, 
but  lacks  practical  experience. 

Fifth :  The  Commissary  Department  approaches  nearer 
to  efficiency  than  any  I  know. 

Sixth:  The  strength  of  the  Engineer  Department  is 
simply  frittered  away  by  the  double  organization,  and  the 
dead-heads  upon  both.  With  more  talent  than  any  other 
corps  in  the  service,  it  has  less  influence.  Neither  branch 
of  it  is  used  as  it  should  be ;  not  one-half  the  work  of  which 
they  are  capable  is  exacted,  and,  finally,  they  are  not  strong 
enough  by  half  in  officers,  nor  a  tenth  part  in  engineer 
soldiers. 

Seventh :  The  Ordnance  is  a  little  better  off,  but  is  also 
paralyzed.  It  should  have  more  vigor,  more  officers,  more 
men,  and  more  facilities  for  manufacturing  munitions  of 
war. 

Eighth :  A  well-regulated  Staff  is  the  soul  of  military 
organization.  "With  these  improvements,  the  line  would  at 
once  be  elevated  greatly,  both  in  spirit  and  efficiency,  but 
by  a  judicious  system  of  examinations  and  reward  for 
meritorious  conduct  in  officers  and  privates,  many  worth- 
less men  would  be  turned  out  of  service  and  many  useful 
ones  inspired  with  new  vigor  and  ardor. 

Ninth:  During  the  English  revolution  in  the  time  of 
the  Charles',  for  the  first  two  years,  Parliament  scattered 
money  with  a  lavish  hand — everything  was  bought  in  the 
army — patriotism,  valor,  public  spirit — all  had  their  price. 
As  a  consequence,  the  Cavaliers,  under  Prince  Rupert,  and 

230 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  VICKSBURG 

the  dashing  courtiers  conquered  in  every  battle.  It  was 
not  till  Cromwell  and  Hampden  arose,  with  their  organized 
regiments,  that  the  principles  of  the  revolution  began  to 
make  head  against  the  fiery  valor  of  the  Cavaliers.  The 
army  was  reorganized.  The  "  Ironsides ' '  and  the  New 
Model  Army  became  renowned  in  the  world's  history  for 
manly  and  invincible  courage ;  they  always  conquered.  The 
analogy  between  then  and  now,  in  principles  and  facts,  is 
too  striking  for  me  to  trace  it  further.  Must  we  not  profit 
by  history?  Is  not  the  lesson  plain?  Organize  and  con- 
centrate. Organize  by  building  upon  the  old  basis,  rather 
than  attempting  to  lay  the  foundations  anew.  Fill  up 
the  old  regiments;  weed  out  inefficient  officers,  fill  the 
vacancies  by  meritorious  officers  and  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers— adopt  a  system.  Let  the  anomaly  of  two  distinct 
armies  be  destroyed;  let  us  return  to  the  traditions  of  the 
Government  with  reference  to  our  standing  army.  Let  it 
be  expanded  by  merging  the  entire  volunteer  army  with 
it.  Give  each  regiment  a  portion  of  the  National  Army 
in  name  as  well  as  in  fact.  Regulate  the  promotions  so 
as  to  get  a  homogeneous,  united,  spirited  army.  As  for 
the  details  of  what  I  propose  I  will  not  go  into  them,  but 
simply  say  that  a  far  better  arrangement  than  that  of  add- 
ing a  simple  new  regiment  to  the  volunteer  army  would 
be  to  expand  as  many  as  necessary  to  two  or  three  bat- 
talions. In  this  way  the  new  levy  of  300,000  men  of  July 
last  could  be  thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  present 
forces  in  a  few  weeks. 

Tenth :  With  a  remark  in  reference  to  a  system  of  re- 
serves, I  will  close.  Should  the  army  be  reorganized  as 
I  suggest,  the  drafts  would  then  be  made  for  the  general 
service  and  could  be  kept  at  general  depots  for  instruction, 
till  needed  to  fill  up  the  vacancies;  thus  vacancies  could 
be  filled  promptly  in  those  regiments  which  required  it 
most.  Under  the  present  system  some  of  the  regiments 
which  have  been  kept  out  of  harm's  way  are  overflowing 
with  men,  because  recruiting  happens  to  be  brisk  in  the 

231 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

states  from  which  they  come ;  while  other  regiments  which 
have  been  decimated  by  disease  and  battle  are  rendered 
almost  useless  because  recruiting  happens  to  be  slow  in 
their  states,  or  because  new  regiments  are  organized  rather 
than  old  ones  filled  up. 

The  prominent  ideas  of  this  plan  are:  First,  a  well- 
regulated  Staff;  second,  a  well-organized  homogeneous 
army,  to  be  formed  by  a  union  of  the  volunteer  and  regular 
armies,  on  a  proper  and  equitable  basis,  and,  third,  a 
proper  and  efficient  system  of  reserves  and  recruiting — 
all  so  combined  as  to  stimulate  merit,  zeal,  courage,  and 
a  national  spirit  of  devotion  and  constancy. 

It  is  only  by  some  such  system  that  we  can  possibly 
continue  the  war  to  a  successful  issue.  It  is  absolutely 
necessary,  in  point  of  economy  as  well  as  of  military  effi- 
ciency. 

The  war  has  been  conducted  too  far  already  upon  the 
principle  of  main-strength  and  awkwardness.  New  life, 
new  vigor  and  unity  must  be  infused  into  it.  These  can 
only  be  secured  by  organization  and  discipline.  We  have 
the  old  question  among  military  men  to  decide,  which  is 
most  to  be  depended  upon — enthusiasm  or  discipline? 
Without  undertaking  to  say  which  of  these  virtues  is  best, 
I  will  simply  remark:  the  rebels  are  certainly  superior 
to  us  in  the  former,  equal  to  us  in  the  latter,  and  far 
ahead  of  us  in  unity  of  action  and  purpose.  To  conquer 
them,  then,  it  is  clear  we  must  have  something  beside  sim- 
ple superiority  of  numbers  and  material;  and  have  them, 
too,  elsewhere  than  at  home,  or  in  the  depots,  arsenals  and 
storehouses.  The  military  and  true  principle  is  that  num- 
bers, discipline  and  material  avail  nothing  except  when 
arrayed  upon  the  vital  point  at  the  vital  moment. 

These  truths  will  be  recognized  yet,  before  this  war  i» 
terminated.    The  rebels  understand  them  now. 

It  may  be  here  observed  that  while  the  Union 
cause  signally  triumphed  in  the  end  without  a  reor- 

232 


SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE   OF  VICKSBURG 

ganization  of  the  Union  army  on  a  national  basis 
or  a  prompt  and  effective  enforcement  of  the  con- 
scription, it  is  none  the  less  trne  that  some  such 
reorganization  as  that  recommended  by  me  would 
have  promptly  put  it  on  a  far  more  effective  and 
economical  basis  than  it  ever  reached.  This,  as  well 
as  the  extravagant  wastefulness  of  our  system  is 
conclusively  shown  by  General  Upton  in  his  ad- 
mirable work  on  "The  Military  Policy  of  the  United 
States/ '  published  at  the  Government  Printing 
Office,  Washington,  1904. 


233 


IX 

SHERMAN'S  CAMPAIGN  TO  CENTRAL  ALABAMA 

Headquarters  in  Vicksburg — Rawlins  and  Grant — Grant 
visits  New  Orleans — Season  of  rest — Inspection  tour 
— Army  wastes  summer — Grant  and  staff  ordered  to 
Chattanooga — Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi. 

Immediately  after  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg, 
Sherman,  reinforced  by  McPherson,  was  sent  to 
drive  Johnston  out  of  Mississippi,  but  the  weather 
was  extremely  hot,  the  roads  dusty,  water  scarce, 
and  foraging  poor.  Consequently  his  columns,  after 
reoccupying  Jackson,  went  but  a  few  miles  beyond 
that  place  and  there  gave  up  the  pursuit.  Instead 
of  following  Johnston  and  pushing  into  central 
Alabama,  as  had  been  expected,  he  halted  on  the 
excuse  that  no  water  could  be  found  in  eastern  Mis- 
sissippi, and  without  even  arranging  to  hold  Jackson 
as  an  advanced  post  and  rallying  place  for  the 
Union  sentiment  of  the  state  he  left  everything  to 
the  enemy  and  within  three  weeks  was  again  in  his 
old  camp  on  the  Big  Black. 

I  had  predicted  this  conclusion  of  the  campaign 
to  Rawlins  and  Grant.  I  contended  that  Sherman 
ought  to  be  able  to  go  where  Johnston  went.  I 
urged  that  the  time  and  conditions  were  favorable 

234 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

to  the  continuance  of  a  vigorous  campaign  along 
the  line  of  railroad  running  from  Vicksburg  east- 
ward through  central  Alabama,  which  would  not 
only  give  us  Selma,  the  main  Confederate  arsenal 
and  military  depot,  and  Montgomery,  the  first  Con- 
federate capital,  but  cause  the  evacuation  of  Mobile 
on  one  hand  and  northern  Georgia  on  the  other. 

It  seemed  clear  that  the  failure  to  make  such 
a  campaign  as  was  now  open  to  us  would  be  short- 
sighted and  weak  on  our  part  and  just  what  the 
enemy  desired,  because  it  would  neutralize  our 
army,  put  it  on  the  defensive,  and  give  the  enemy 
time  to  collect  and  reorganize  his  scattered  forces 
and  to  send  reinforcements  to  Bragg  against  Eose- 
crans.  And  this  is  precisely  what  took  place.  I 
argued  the  case  with  Eawlins  and  Grant  as  long  as 
it  was  open,  but  they  stood  by  Sherman  to  the  end. 
Even  when  he  brought  forward  the  additional  claim 
that  his  men  were  tired,  they  accepted  it  as  valid, 
although  I  pointed  out  the  indisputable  fact  that 
most  of  the  troops  with  him  had  been  in  camp  from 
the  last  of  May  till  the  4th  of  July,  and  that  the  rest 
had  been  engaged  in  the  siege,  which  was  by  no 
means  so  fatiguing  as  an  active  campaign. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  Sherman,  as  if  depressed 
by  his  disastrous  failure  at  Chickasaw  Bayou,  was 
at  that  time  a  timid  leader,  who  could  not  be  de- 
pended upon  to  push  home  his  advantages.  And  he 
was  still  under  the  cloud  of  the  cruel  and  unjust 
newspaper  criticism  received  during  his  command  in 
Kentucky.  My  opinion  was  confirmed  by  the  failure 
of  his  movement  against  Bragg 's  right  at  the  battle 
of  Missionary  Eidge  and  still  further  by  his  belated 
and  abortive  second  campaign  in  January  and  Feb- 

235 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

ruary,  1864,  from  Vicksburg  through  Jackson  to- 
ward central  Alabama. 

Frankness  requires  me  to  add  that  both  Rawlins 
and  Grant  were  displeased  at  the  freedom  with 
which  I  criticized  Sherman  in  the  instances  just 
mentioned,  but  Rawlins,  when  the  events  were  all 
ended,  freely  admitted  that  my  criticisms  had  been, 
fully  vindicated. 

But  to  return  to  Grant  's  army,  the  paralysis  and 
disintegration  of  which  began  shortly  after  the  cap- 
ture of  Vicksburg,  when  the  Thirteenth  Corps,  about 
fifteen  thousand  strong,  was  sent  to  Banks  in  Louisi- 
ana. A  division  was  sent  about  the  same  time  to 
Steele  in  Arkansas,  and  Parke,  with  the  Ninth 
Corps,  was  returned  to  Burnside  in  east  Tennessee, 
while  McPherson,  with  the  Seventeenth  Corps,  was 
left  at  Vicksburg  with  detachments  at  Grand  Gulf 
and  Natchez,  to  make  good  the  national  control  of 
the  Mississippi  from  Cairo  to  the  Gulf.  This  was 
mainly  due  to  orders  from  Washington,  where  the 
principles  of  "Pepper  Box  Strategy,' \  as  professed 
by  Halleck,  too  long  held  sway. 

While  we  were  still  at  Vicksburg,  an  incident 
took  place  which  gave  rise  to  some  comment  and  a 
good  deal  of  annoyance  to  General  Grant.  He  was 
*  fond  of  McPherson,  who,  like  himself,  was  some- 
what easily  imposed  upon  by  designing  men. 
Shortly  after  promotion  to  the  rank  of  major  gen- 
eral, the  latter  had  taken  a  man  without  a  commis- 
sion on  his  staff,  and  had  allowed  him  to  wear  a 
colonel's  uniform  and  shoulder  straps  and  to  make 
himself  generally  officious  about  headquarters,  es- 
pecially in  connection  with  railroad  matters.  He 
was  the  brother  of  a  Chicago  banker  and  made  pre- 

236 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

tentions  to  riches  and  influence  on  his  own  account. 
He  was  presented  to  me  in  northern  Mississippi, 
but  his  sycophancy  at  once  aroused  my  suspicions, 
which  I  communicated  in  due  time  to  Rawlins,  who 
promptly  adopted  them  as  his  own.  This  person 
claimed  to  be  a  colonel  in  the  Mexican  Liberal  Army 
and  seemed  to  have  plenty  of  money,  but  finally 
became  widely  known  as  a  common  rascal  and 
swindler,  who,  after  defrauding  the  governor  of 
New  Jersey  and  many  others  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  was  convicted  and  sent  to  the  penitentiary 
in  Arkansas  for  a  term  of  years.  He  died  before 
the  expiration  of  his  sentence,  but  not  till  he  had 
made  a  full  confession,  which  was  published  by  the 
press  throughout  the  country. 

Shortly  after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  he  presented 
a  beautiful  thoroughbred  charger  to  McPherson  and 
a  major  general's  dress  sword  and  belt  said  to  have 
cost  $1,100  to  General  Grant.  Rawlins  and  I  both 
advised  the  General  not  to  accept  it,  but,  fearing  to 
hurt  McPherson 's  feelings,  he  received  the  sword, 
but  sent  it  home  at  once.  As  inspector  general  I 
soon  discovered  that  this  man  had  no  right  to  wear 
a  colonel's  coat  and  shoulder  straps  and  reported 
him  to  both  Grant  and  McPherson.  The  former  ac- 
cepted my  report,  and,  after  it  was  confirmed  and 
extended  by  friends  at  Chicago,  wrote  McPherson 
that  he  should  get  rid  of  the  bogus  colonel  as  soon 
and  as  quietly  as  possible,  but  McPherson  resented 
our  interference  between  him  and  his  friend,  and, 
as  he  was  killed  in  battle  the  next  year  in  front  of 
Atlanta,  never  fully  realized  how  completely  he  had 
been  imposed  upon. 

The  unfortunate  and  disastrous  results  which 
237 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

followed  the  adoption  of  the  policy  of  dispersion 
after  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  are  now  a  matter 
of  history.  They  might  not  have  been  so  costly 
had  there  been  no  other  armies  in  the  Western  thea- 
ter of  operations,  but  when  it  is  recalled  that  Bose- 
crans  had  crossed  the  Tennessee  and  was,  as  he  evi- 
dently believed,  in  full  pursuit  of  a  retreating  army, 
which,  when  reenforced  by  the  army  paroled  at 
Vicksburg,  as  well  as  by  Longstreet's  corps  from 
Virginia,  was  late  in  September  to  gain  a  great  vic- 
tory, it  will  be  seen  that  a  much  better  disposition 
of  Grant's  forces  would  have  been  to  send  them  to 
Chattanooga  before,  rather  than  after,  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga. 

I  presented  this  view  as  soon  as  Sherman  sig- 
nified his  intention  of  giving  up  the  campaign  east 
of  Jackson,  but  under  the  plea  that  all  first-class 
military  operations  were  dictated  from  Washington 
my  remonstrance  produced  no  effect.  I  also  op- 
posed the  detachment  of  the  Thirteenth  Corps  to 
Banks,  where  it  was"  scattered  along  the  coast  all 
the  way  from  New  Orleans  to  the  mouth  of  the  Eio 
Grande,  adding  that  our  true  policy  in  reference 
to  that  part  of  the  Confederacy  which  had  been  cut 
off  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  to  leave  it,  like  the 
dissevered  tail  of  a  snake,  to  die  of  itself,  while  we 
should  send  Sherman,  with  all  the  troops  that  could 
be  spared  from  the  imperative  duty  of  keeping  the 
Mississippi  open,  by  steamboat  to  Memphis  and 
thence  by  rail  and  country  road  to  form  a  junction 
with  Kosecrans  wherever  he  might  be  found. 

Shortly  after  the  surrender,  General  Banks,  ac- 
companied by  General  Stone  and  one  or  two  other 
staff  officers,  paid  us  a  visit  at  Vicksburg  and  I 

238 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

had  the  pleasure  of  showing  them  about*  the  de- 
fenses and  through  our  parallels  and  approaches. 
They  seemed  to  be  greatly  interested  in  my  ex- 
planation of  the  operations,  and  asked  a  multitude 
of  questions.  Stone,  who  afterward  served  in  the 
Khedive's  army,  was  particularly  inquisitive  and, 
being  a  West  Point  man,  caught  on  rapidly  to  the 
particulars  of  the  campaign  and  the  siege.  They 
remained  two  days  with  us  and  in  taking  their  leave 
warmly  pressed  Grant  to  return  their  visit  at  New 
Orleans  and  to  bring  Lieutenant  Colonel  Wilson 
with  him.  This  he  kindly  promised  to  do,  and  nat- 
urally I  felt  flattered  by  the  warmth  of  their  invi- 
tation, and  still  more  by  the  general's  ready  prom- 
ise of  compliance,  but  I  could  not  think  of  leaving 
my  work  at  a  time  so  particularly  favorable  to  put- 
ting it  on  a  satisfactory  basis.  It  was  the  first 
real  leisure  that  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  had 
ever  had — the  first  period  in  its  history  favorable 
to  the  perfection  of  its  discipline  and  administra- 
tion, and  I  considered  it  my  duty  to  give  the  work 
unremitting  personal  attention.  Besides,  neither 
Eawlins  nor  I  approved  the  return  visit.  We 
thought  General  Grant's  place  was  also  with  his 
own  army  and  that  as  Banks'  operations,  in  what- 
ever direction  they  might  lie,  must  necessarily  be 
of  secondary  importance,  they  would  concern  us  but 
little.  We  distinctly  disapproved  the  visit,  and  as 
it  turned  out  it  was  not  only  a  source  of  proper 
solicitude  to  Eawlins,  but  of  very  great  personal 
disadvantage  to  Grant,  without  benefiting  either 
army  or  the  cause  of  the  country  in  the  slightest 
degree.  It  was  simply  time  wasted  for  all  con- 
cerned. 

239 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

At  the  house  chosen  for  headquarters  in  Vicks- 
burg  we  found  several  young  ladies,  one  of  whom 
was  a  Northerner  of  very  unusual  beauty,  living 
there  as  a  governess.  Naturally  enough,  General 
Grant  was  the  first  to  make  their  acquaintance; 
my  turn  followed  a  few  days  later,  when  I  had  an 
occasion  to  look  up  the  General,  whom  I  found  in 
the  drawing-room,  chatting  with  the  Northern 
beauty.  As  the  business  in  hand  required  him  to 
leave  the  room,  he  presented  me  and  suggested  that 
I  should  remain  till  he  returned.  During  his  ab- 
sence a  beautiful  bouquet  was  brought  in  and  pre- 
sented to  the  young  lady,  without  card  or  explana- 
tion of  any  sort.  Seeing  her  puzzled  and  embar- 
rassed, I  was  about  to  take  my  leave  when  she  ex- 
plained that  this  was  the  second  bouquet  she  had 
received  in  the  same  unconventional  and  irregular 
way,  and  as  it  was  under  the  circumstances  an  un- 
welcome attention,  she  did  not  know  how  to  treat 
the  matter.  Eegarding  her  remarks  as  an  appeal 
for  aid,  I  said  at  once  that  she  should  explain  her 
embarrassment  to  Mrs.  Grant,  who  had  just  joined 
us  and  who  would,  through  her  husband,  give  ample 
protection.  This,  for  obvious  reasons,  she  did  not 
like  to  do,  consequently  I  undertook  to  ascertain  who 
her  unknown  admirer  was  and  to  put  him  under 
Bawlins'  surveillance.  As  it  turned  out  my  plan 
of  procedure  was  easily  and  promptly  successful. 
The  swain  was  shortly  discovered  to  be  a  married 
man,  a  handsome  and  very  gallant  additional  aid- 
de-camp,  with  the  rank  of  colonel  on  the  General's 
staff.  The  case  was  fully  explained  to  Eawlins, 
whose  indignation  was  expressed  in  language  no 
one  could  fail  to  understand.     The  necessary  ad- 

240 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

monitions  were  issued,  the  unwelcome  advances  were 
discontinued  and  a  standard  of  behavior  established 
about  headquarters  that  left  nothing  to  be  desired. 

Eawlins,  who  had  been  a  widower  for  something 
over  two  years,  was  a  man  of  austere  manners  and 
unusual  shyness,  entirely  given  up  to  his  duties. 
He  sought  neither  the  acquaintance  nor  the  society 
of  the  ladies,  but  lived  absolutely  apart  and  rather 
disapproved  the  contrary  course  for  the  General 
and  his  staff,  but  when  the  General  left  for  New 
Orleans  and  I  for  Eed  Eiver,  Eawlins  was  present- 
ed to  the  ladies  and  became  their  guardian.  The 
story  is  soon  told.  He  fell  deeply  in  love  with  the 
object  of  his  solicitude  and,  like  all  good  men,  de- 
sired to  appear  worthy  of  her.  As  his  most  noted 
sins  were  an  occasional  outburst  of  violence  and 
profanity,  he  made  a  solemn  resolution  to  control 
his  temper  and  give  up  swearing.  He  soon  told  her 
the  simple  story  of  his  life,  and  in  due  time  offered 
her  the  protection  of  his  name  and  station.  They 
were  married  at  her  home  at  Danbury,  Connecticut, 
on  the  twenty-fourth  of  December  following. 

Shortly  after  the  incident  of  the  bouquet  an  in- 
teresting event  of  another  sort  took  place  at  head- 
quarters which  well  illustrates  the  relations  between 
Grant  and  Eawlins.  Although  it  was  the  policy  of 
the  Administration  to  encourage  the  purchase  and 
shipment  of  cotton,  one  of  the  standing  orders  is- 
sued while  headquarters  were  still  in  west  Tennes- 
see had  forbidden  the  practice  on  account  of  its 
demoralizing  tendencies  to  both  men  and  officers. 
But,  in  spite  of  this  well-known  order,  we  had  hardly 
got  into  Vicksburg  when  a  kinsman  of  General 
Grant's  bringing  a  permit  from  the  Secretary  of 

241 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

the  Treasury  established  himself  nearby  and  began 
buying  cotton.  This  soon  became  known  and,  with- 
out consultation,  Rawlins  at  once  issued  an  order 
expelling  the  cotton  buyer  from  the  department. 
This  came  to  Grant 's  attention  without  delay,  where- 
upon he  mildly  suggested  that  Rawlins  should  hold 
up  the  order  as  unnecessarily  harsh,  and  as  giving 
more  publicity  to  the  case  than  was  required. 

This  was  more  than  the  rugged  and  determined 
chief-of-staff  could  stand,  and,  evidently  fearing 
that  it  meant  a  relaxation  of  discipline,  if  not  a 
defeat  of  justice,  he  burst  forth,  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously, with  a  volley  of  oaths,  followed  by  the  dec- 
laration that  if  he  were  the  commanding  general 
of  a  department  and  any  kinsman  of  his  dared  to 
come  within  its  limits  and  violate  one  of  its  im- 
portant standing  orders  he  would  arrest  him,  march 
him  out,  and  hang  him  to  the  highest  tree  within 
five  miles  of  camp! 

Thereupon,  without  waiting  to  note  the  effect 
of  his  stentorian  speech,  he  turned  about  and,  re- 
entering his  own  office,  violently  slammed  the  door 
behind  him. 

It  was  an  embarrassing  episode — the  only  one 
of  the  kind  I  had  ever  witnessed — and  as  the  punc- 
tuation of  his  remarks  was  both  profane  and  dis- 
respectful, I  followed  him  out  and  said: 

"Rawlins,  that  won't  do.  You  have  used  lan- 
guage in  the  General 's  presence  that  was  both  in- 
subordinate and  inexcusable,  and  you  should  not 
only  withdraw  it,  but  apologize  for  it." 

Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  he  replied:  "You 
are  right.  I  am  already  ashamed  of  myself  for  los- 
ing my  temper.    Come  with  me,"  and,  walking  back 

242 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

into  the  General's  presence,  he  said  in  his  deep, 
sonorous  voice: 

"General,  I  have  just  used  rough  and  violent 
language  in  your  presence  which  I  should  not  have 
used  and  I  not  only  want  to  withdraw  it,  but  to 
humbly  beg  your  pardon  for  it." 

Then  with  a  pause  and  a  blush  he  added : 

'  *  The  fact  is,  General,  when  I  made  the  acquain- 
tance of  the  ladies  at  our  headquarters  I  resolved 
to  give  up  the  use  of  profane  language  and  blankety- 
blank  my  soul  if  I  didn't  think  I  had  done  it!" 

At  this  naive  confession  Grant's  face  lightened 
with  a  smile  as  he  replied: 

"That's  all  right,  Eawlins!  I  understand;  you 
were  not  cursing,  but,  like  Wilson's  friend,  simply 
expressing  your  intense  vehemence  on  the  subject 
matter. ' ' 

It  'is  needless  to  add  that  the  incident  passed  off 
to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned.  The  order  was 
suspended,  but  discipline  was  vindicated  by  a  quiet 
intimation  on  the  part  of  the  General  that  the  in- 
truder's health  would  be  improved  by  an  early  re- 
turn to  the  North,  and  he  went  the  next  day! 

Grant  had,  however,  been  somewhat  fatigued  by 
the  campaign  and,  feeling  that  he  needed  a  vaca- 
tion, shortly  after  Sherman  returned  to  the  Big 
Black,  took  steamer  with  several  ornamental  mem- 
bers of  his  staff  for  the  return  visit  to  Banks  at 
New  Orleans,  while  Eawlins  remained  at  headquar- 
ters, considerably  troubled  in  his  own  mind,  pre- 
paring the  detailed  report  of  the  late  operations. 
As  soon  as  this  was  finished  he  took  it  to  Washing- 
ton in  person,  where  he  was  received  by  the  Presi- 
dent and  cabinet  with  marked  civility.    While  it  is 

243 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

known  that  he  gave  them  a  personal  account  of  the 
campaign  and  of  the  situation  at  Vicksburg  and 
throughout  the  state  of  Mississippi,  he  unfortu- 
nately left  no  record  of  what  he  said  upon  that  in- 
teresting occasion,  but  it  is  well  known  that  he 
produced  a  favorable  impression  on  the  President 
and  the  members  of  his  cabinet.1  *  He  got  back  to 
the  army  about  the  middle  of  August  and  remained 
there,  practically  in  command  over  both  Sherman 
and  McPherson  till  his  chief  returned. 

It  was  during  this  unfortunate  visit  to  Banks 
that  Grant,  while  galloping  rapidly  to  a  review  at 
Carrollton,  had  a  fall  with  his  horse  which  severely 
injured  his  leg  and  made  it  both  painful  and  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  get  about  for  several  months.  In- 
deed, Grant's  hurt  was  so  severe  that  he  suffered 
considerably  from  it  till  after  the  Chattanooga  cam- 
paign, and  had  more  or  less  trouble  from  it  'to  the 
end  of  his  life.  His  injury  doubtless  had  its  in- 
fluence at  the  time  in  inclining  him  to  the  policy  of 
inaction  for  the  heated  term  at  least,  and  as  it  was 
an  unusually  dry  season,  there  was  but  little  said 
either  in  Washington  or  elsewhere  in  regard  to 
wasted  opportunities. 

All  these  circumstances  combined  to  make  it  to 
a  certain  extent  a  season  of  rest,  or  of  senseless  and 
misdirected  marching  up  and  down  in  the  land  for 
all  except  myself.  Up  to  that  time,  although  titular 
inspector  general,  my  duties  had  necessarily  been 
those  of  an  engineer  and  general  staff  officer.  En- 
joying robust  health  as  I  did  throughout  the  cam- 
paign, I  had  all  the  work  I  could  attend  to,  while 
the  troops  were  actually  engaged  in  marching  and 

w' Diary  of  Gideon  Welles." 
244 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

fighting,  as  well  as  constructing  parallels  and  ap- 
proaches, with  but  little  time  for  special  inspections 
or  for  putting  my  own  department  on  a  regular 
and  systematic  basis.  As  this  became  my  first  duty 
as  soon  as  the  siege  was  fairly  over,  I  drew  up  and 
with  Grant's  approval  sent  out  to  the  corps  and 
division  inspectors  a  set  of  detailed  instructions 
covering  their  duties  in  reference  to  every  branch 
of  the  service,  both  active  and  administrative,  and 
directed  that  they  should  begin  at  once  a  series  of 
minute  inspections,  extending  to  every  division,  bri- 
gade, regiment,  company,  and  detachment  in  the 
army.  This  done,  I  then  arranged  for  a  series  of 
personal  inspections  to  see  that  orders  and  regu- 
lations were  everywhere  duly  enforced,  and  that  the 
troops,  as  far  as  I  could  influence  them,  should  be 
brought  to  the  highest  possible  state  of  discipline, 
instruction,  and  efficiency.  These  instructions  were 
all  sent  out  by  the  end  of  the  first  week  after  we 
entered  Vicksburg,  but  as  they  were  altogether  mili- 
tary and  technical,  they  have  long  since  passed  into 
the  limbo  of  uninteresting  and  forgotten  things 
which  call  for  no  resurrection.  While  they  played 
their  part  in  making  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee 
one  of  the  best  that  ever  upheld  the  national  cause, 
so  far  as  I  am  concerned  they  must  be  allowed  to 
rest  in  the  peaceful  oblivion  of  the  Eecords. 

When  Pemberton's  army  marched  back  into  the 
Confederacy  they  left  behind  several  hundred  sick 
and  wounded,  which  Grant  agreed  to  deliver  at* 
Monroe,  a  river  town  in  northeastern  Louisiana. 
They  were  a  poor,  helpless  set  that  had  suffered 
as  much  from  inattention  as  from  sickness  and 
wounds  and  would  have  fared  much  better  in  our 

245 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

hospitals  than  in  their  own,  but  on  July  21  about 
three  hundred  of  them  were  placed  aboard  two 
steamboats  and  started  to  their  destination  under 
my  charge.  I  had,  besides,  several  families,  in- 
creased at  Grand  Gulf  by  another,  bound  for  the 
trans-Mississippi,  and  this  full  complement  of  pas- 
sengers taxed  my  means  of  entertainment  to  the 
utmost.  It  was  indeed  a  dreary  and  distressing 
trip.  The  doctors  and  the  boats !  crews  did  their 
best  to  make  the  suffering  soldiers  comfortable  and 
to  cheer  them  on  their  way,  but  several  died  and 
were  buried,  uncoffined,  on  the  river  bank,  while 
most  of  the  remainder  had  evidently  got  all  they 
wanted  of  the  war  and  went  with  suffering  bodies 
and  sinking  hearts  to  this  remote  corner  of  the  Con- 
federacy. 

Such  of  the  women  and  children  as  were  well 
gave  us  far  more  trouble  than  our  sick  and  wounded. 
They  were  persistent  in  their  demands  as  well  as 
offensive  in  their  loyalty  to  the  South,  and  did  their 
best  to  make  the  trip  lively  for  us.  But  for  the 
part  taken  by  one  MacMahon,  purser  of  the  steamer 
Belle  Creole,  on  which  I  had  taken  passage,  the 
trip  would  have  been  a  particularly  distressing  one. 
He  generously  took  the  burden  of  entertainment  off 
my  shoulders,  and,  although  an  Irishman  from  In- 
diana, he  cheerfully  did  his  best,  not  only  to  satisfy 
the  wants  of  our  passengers,  but  to  defend  the  gov- 
ernment authorities  from  their  attacks.  They  were, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  emancipation  of  the  negroes,  which  had  now 
become  the  settled  policy  of  the  government,  and 
firm  in  the  conviction  that  they  would  be  utterly 
unable  to  profit  by  it,  our  guests  denounced  the  meas- 

246 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

ure  as  both  ill-advised  and  wrong  in  every  re- 
spect. They  boldly  declared  that  even  MacMa- 
hon  himself  did  not  believe  in  it  and  would  not  try 
to  defend  it. 

But  in  this  they  were  mistaken.  The  fluent  and 
enthusiastic  Irishman  burst  forth  with  a  torrent 
of  eloquence  and  an  aptitude  of  Biblical  reference 
that  put  an  end  for  the  time  to  the  controversy. 
The  women  of  the  South  were  firm  believers  in  the 
Bible  and  its  sanction  of  slavery,  but  MacMahon 
was  equal  to  the  occasion: 

"Yes,"  he  exclaimed,  "I  do  approve  of  the  proc- 
lamation, and  I  firmly  believe  the  whole  negro  race 
will  be  better  off  for  freedom.  I  accept  your  appeal 
to  the  Bible  and  refer  you  to  the  story  of  the  Chil- 
dren of  Israel,  and  how  Moses  led  them  out  of  the 
land  of  bondage.  You  all  know  that  was  one  of 
the  steps  by  which  the  Christian  plan  of  salvation 
was  given  to  the  world,  and  by  which  all  mankind 
are  to  be  ultimately  saved.  But  do  any  of  you  re- 
call how  many  of  the  Children  of  Israel  who  crossed 
the  Red  Sea  dry-shod  and  wandered  in  the  Wilder- 
ness for  forty  years  ever  succeeded  in  getting  even 
a  sight  of  the  Promised  Land?" 

Of  course,  none  recalled,  whereupon  MacMahon 
triumphantly  added: 

"I  knew  you  could  not!  Only  one  of  all  that 
mighty  host!  And  I  say — if  in  God's  providence 
only  one  negro  slave  in  all  this  land  shall  gather 
the  full  fruits  of  freedom,  we  should  not  despair, 
but  leave  God  in  his  own  good  time  to  lead  the  whole 
negro  race  into  the  Promised  Land!" 

The  scenery  of  the  Mississippi,  the  Red,  the 
Black  and  the  Wachita  Rivers,  through  which  our 

247 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

voyage  lay  for  four  hundred  miles,  was  wild  and 
primitive  in  the  extreme.  Here  and  there  half  a 
dozen  houses,  a  woodpile,  or  a  steamboat  landing, 
called  by  some  high-sounding  name,  and  occasionally 
a  cornfield  were  all  we  saw  to  break  the  continuity 
of  the  primeval  forest,  which  seemed  to  stretch  in- 
definitely into  the  interior.  I  saw  but  one  white 
man  on  the  Black  Eiver,  and  he  was  so  old,  decrepit, 
and  ignorant  that  he  hardly  knew  there  was  war  in 
the  land.  All  the  able-bodied  men  were  absent  in 
the  army. 

At  Harrisonburg  we  came  to  the  first  landing  not 
subject  to  overflow.  It  was  guarded  by  Fort  Beau- 
regard, an  earthwork  mounting  several  guns,  one 
of  which  brought  us  to  with  a  round  shot  fired  across 
our  bows.  A  parley  followed  at  once  with  Colonel 
Logan,  the  Confederate  commandant,  and,  after  re- 
ceiving an  explanation  of  my  humane  mission,  he 
permitted  me  to  continue  my  voyage  to  within  three 
miles  of  Monroe.  Why  he  decided  to  stop  us  short 
of  the  town  I  never  knew,  but  the  river  was  falling 
rapidly,  and  as  it  turned  out  the  shoal  water  and 
sandbars  forced  us  to  stop  twelve  miles  short  of 
our  destination.  Finding  it  impossible  to  go  on,  I 
sent  a  Confederate  messenger  to  ask  what  we  should 
do  with  our  poor,  helpless  sick  and  wounded.  Noth- 
ing had  yet  been  done  for  their  comfort,  but  word 
soon  came  back  that  we  should  transfer  as  many  as 
possible  to  a  little  country  church  nearby  and  leave 
the  rest  at  the  landing  to  be  reembarked  on  several 
small  steamboats  which  would  be  sent  for  them. 
Having  discharged  these  unfortunate  creatures,  we 
turned  about  and  made  our  way  back  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi as  rapidly  as  possible.    We  ^ere  forbidden 

248 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

to  land  anywhere  except  at  Harrisonburg  to  put 
out  our  pilot.  The  Confederate  authorities  seemed 
to  be  fearful  that  we  would  learn  the  exact  arma- 
ment of  their  little  fort,  but  their  caution  was  un- 
necessary, for  I  had  already  made  out  that  it 
mounted  three  smooth  bore  thirty-two  pounders,  one 
twelve-pounder  and  one  six-pounder  rifle,  all  of 
which  I  felt  confident  would  fall  into  our  hands 
whenever  we  chose  to  go  for  them. 

I  left  Vicksburg  with  General  and  Mrs.  Grant 
on  the  steamer  Ben  Franklin  August  18.  The 
General  was  going  to  Cairo  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
municating with  the  Government  by  telegraph.  We 
were  accompanied  by  General  Lorenzo  Thomas  and 
two  of  his  sons,  on  their  way  to  Washington,  and 
the  party,  while  far  from  hilarious,  was  a  pleasant 
one.  I  had  been  trying  ever  since  the  fall  of  Vicks- 
burg to  begin  a  tour  of  inspection,  which,  I  thought, 
would  last  five  or  six  weeks.  As  I  had  not  been  at 
home  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  with  Grant's 
permission  I  went  on  by  steamer  to  visit  my  mother 
before  beginning  my  tour.  I  arrived  in  the  early 
evening,  and,  having  brought  my  horse  with  me, 
I  mounted  and  rode  home.  I  saw  no  one  at  the 
landing  whom  I  had  ever  seen  before.  All  the 
young  men  had  gone  to  the  war  and  the  old  ones 
were  probably  in  bed,  and  so  I  arrived  unheralded 
and  ungreeted,  but  my  mother  recognized  my  voice 
as  she  heard  me  directing  my  orderly  to  take  my 
horse  to  the  stable.  We  had  a  joyous  meeting  and 
the  next  day  I  looked  up  my  relations  and  friends 
and  had  a  pleasant  reunion  with  all.  My  two 
brothers,  both  of  whom  had  been  home  on  sick  leave, 
had  rejoined  their  commands,  the  major  in  Arkan- 

249 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

sas  and  the  captain  in  the  Thirteenth  Corps  with 
Banks.  Under  the  tender  care  of  relatives  and 
friends  they  had  reveled  in  "the  fleshpots  of  Egypt" 
and  had  returned  to  duty  completely  restored  in 
health  and  strength. 

As  there  was  nothing  the  matter  with  me,  I  set 
about  my  inspection  without  delay,  and  in  forty- 
eight  hours  I  was  again  on  the  river  packet  Char- 
lie Bowen,  with  my  early  friend,  Gus  Lemcke,  the 
purser,  with  whom  I  passed  a  few  pleasant  hours. 
He  knew  everybody  on  the  river,  male  and  female, 
and  told  me  who  had  gone  to  the  war,  who  had  mar- 
ried, and  who  had  gone  over  to  the  majority.  Al- 
though only  a  steamboat  man,  he  had  beautiful  taste 
in  literature  and  was  fully  in  touch  with  the  latest 
in  history,  romance,  and  poetry.  It  was  a  delight- 
ful trip  down  the  Ohio,  and  as  it  covered  exactly 
the  same  points  as  the  one  I  took  some  years  before 
in  quest  of  the  steamer  Liahtuna,  it  produced  a 
lasting  impression  on  me. 

As  soon  as  my  inspection  of  a  few  hours  at  Pa- 
ducah  was  finished  I  went  on  to  Cairo,  where  there 
was  a  strong  garrison  for  the  protection  of  the 
supplies  at  that  place.  It  was  under  the  command 
of  an  old  West  Pointer,  Napoleon  Bonapart  Buf ord, 
a  distinguished  veteran  of  the  old  regular  army 
type.  It  was  his  boast  that  he  was  a  "hermeneutic 
philosopher, '  f  whose  pleasure  between  times  was  to 
consider  the  problems  of  life,  both  present  and  fu- 
ture. I  found  his  garrison  in  fair  condition,  but 
far  too  large  for  the  work  in  hand.  He  was  con- 
scious of  that  fact  and  ambitious  for  a  more  active 
command,  and  at  dinner  that  evening  talked  freely 
on  all  the  questions  of  the  day,  among  others  about 

250 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

army  reorganization  and  army  commanders.  He 
shared  the  common  belief  that  so  far  we  had  de- 
veloped no  great  leader  in  the  East  and  only  one 
in  the  West,  and  there  was  much  interest  among 
military  men  at  least  in  regard  to  the  coming  man. 
Up  to  that  time  we  had  had  only  one  "  Young  Napo- 
leon/ p  one  "Old  Brains"  and  one  "Fighting  Joe," 
but  the  impression  was  slowly  gaining  ground  that 
none  of  these  quite  filled  the  bill.  Grant's  name 
had  come  strongly  to  the  front  from  the  Vicksburg 
campaign,  but  there  was  still  a  lingering  fear  that 
something  might  go  wrong  even  with  him.  All  this 
the  old  veteran  carefully  recited,  and  when  he  had 
covered  the  whole  ground  he  stated  his  conclusion 
with  impressive  deliberation: 

"The  fact  is,  Colonel,  there  are  just  three  men 
in  the  United  States  fully  capable  of  commanding 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac."  And  then  pausing  long 
enough  for  me  to  ask  who  they  were,  he  added: 
1  *  George  B.  McClellan  is  one,  Henry  W.  Halleck  is 
another,"  and,  with  his  hand  on  his  breast  and  a 
stately  bow,  he  continued:  "Modesty  forbids  me 
to  mention  the  third !  ■ ' 

It  was  an  unexpected  conclusion,  but  I  made  no 
comment  till  I  related  the  incident  to  General  Grant 
just  after  he  was  called  to  Washington  as  lieuten- 
ant general.  He  enjoyed  it  greatly  and,  not  only 
never  forgot  it,  but  frequently  used  the  modest 
phrase  when  a  more  direct  one  might  have  savored 
of  egotism. 

From  Cairo  I  went  to  Columbus,  where  I  found 
General  A.  J.  Smith,  an  old  regular,  commanding. 
One  of  his  subordinates  was  the  Hungarian  patriot 
Asboth,  a  distinguished  and  courtly  gentleman  with 

251 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

gray  hair,  a  fierce  moustache  and  a  staff  in  which 
two  of  Kossuth's  nephews  were  serving.  He  had 
a  fine  string  of  horses  and  a  pack  of  greyhounds, 
but  they  were  sadly  out  of  place,  and  it  might  be 
truthfully  said  that  his  camp,  like  that  of  Marshal 
Soubise,  was  nearly  all  "  kitchen,  cellar,  and  toilet 
table.' '  I  found  also  at  Island  No.  10  and  Fort 
Pillow  far  too  many  troops,  artillery,  infantry,  cav- 
alry, and  negroes.  The  camps  were  generally  clean 
and  in  fairly  good  sanitary  condition,  but  so  far 
as  I  could  see  without  an  enemy  within  two  hun- 
dred miles. 

The  next  permanent  post  was  Memphis,  where 
I  found  Major  General  Hurlbut  with  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Sixteenth  Corps.  He  was  a  South  Caro- 
linian, educated  in  the  North,  and  long  resident  in 
Illinois.  He  had  a  mixed  command,  mainly  stationed 
at  Fort  Pickering,  and  after  a  full  day  spent  in 
pointing  out  how  it  could  be  still  further  improved 
in  drill,  discipline,  and  administration,  on  Septem- 
ber 16,  at  9  p.  m.,  I  wrote  to  Kawrins'  chief-of-staff. 
After  certain  explanations  in  regard  to  a  proposed 
cavalry  expedition,1  I  continued  as  follows: 

My  understanding  of  the  case  was  that  yon  wanted  a 
cavalry  commander  quite  as  badly  as  the  cavalry  itself,  and 
I  have  only  to  say  on  that  head  that  I  always  thought  Hatch 
Grierson's  superior,  and  to-day  I  became  thoroughly  con- 
vinced that  my  judgment  was  properly  founded.  I  in- 
spected the  Second  Iowa  this  afternoon,  and  I  say  to  you 
what  I  said  to  Hatch,  that,  though  it  is  not  all  that  cavalry 
should  be,  it  is  by  far  the  best  cavalry  regiment  in  the 
department  of  the  Tennessee ;  and,  what  is  more,  Hatch  is 
the  best  officer  and  ought  to  be  sent  down.  From  what 
1  O.  E.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXX,  p.  664. 

252 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

Sargent  said  you  probably  take  the  same  view  of  the  case, 
and  therefore  wish  Hatch's  regiment  to  be  sent.  Hurlbut 
(who,  between  me  and  you,  is  small  enough  to  be  envious 
and  jealous  of  General  Grant)  knows  fully  the  worth  of 
Hatch's  regiment,  and  will  retain  it  here  unless  you  order 
it  down. 

I  don't  like  this  part  of  the  machine.  We  have  too 
many  generals  engaged  in  semi-civil  affairs,  to  the  utter 
neglect  of  their  military  duties.  I  have  not  yet  seen  one 
who  was  not  commanding  a  "post,"  or  "district,"  or  a 
"city."  I  have  reviewed  and  inspected  nearly  all  of  the 
Sixteenth  Army  Corps,  and  have  not  yet  seen  any  troops 
on  the  parade  ground  commanded  by  a  general.  This  may 
be  a  little  surprising  to  you,  but  is  nevertheless  true. 
These  distinguished  gentlemen  should  be  required  to  assume 
command  of  their  men  as  their  first  duty  and  dispose  of 
civil  and  trade  business  afterward.  They  should  be  held 
responsible  for  the  discipline,  order,  and  instruction  of  their 
troops,  and  give  their  first  attention  to  those  matters  rather 
than  devote  their  undivided  time  to  cotton,  confederates, 
and  corruption.  I  tell  you,  sir,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  cannot  be  upheld  in  purity  and  honesty  by 
hands  that  lay  aside  the  sword  for  instruments  of  trade 
and  peace.  We  want  soldiers,  not  traders;  generals,  not 
governors  and  civil  agents.  A  few  hundred  thousand  bayo- 
nets led  by  clear  heads  and  military  rules  can  crush  the 
rebellion,  but  a  million  without  military  generals  can  do 
nothing  except  by  main  strength  and  awkwardness.  The 
system  of  occupying  undisputed  territory  is  all  wrong.  We 
must  put  our  armies  in  the  field  and  compel  our  generals 
to  lead  them  against  the  enemy,  and,  if  they  fail  from  ignor- 
ance, put  them  aside.  I  am  disgusted  with  the  whole  system. 

The  next  day  I  inspected  posts  in  West  Tennes- 
see along  the  Ohio  and  Mobile  Eailroad  and  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston  Eailroad  as  far  east  as 

253 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

Corinth,  and  found  them  occupied  by  permanent 
detachments,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  many 
thousand  men.  As  there  were  no  rebel  forces  with- 
in reach,  the  trip  confirmed  me  in  the  impression 
that  we  were  frittering  away  almost  an  entire  army 
corps  in  the  useless  occupation  of  territory  al- 
ready fully  within  our  control.  I  therefore  wrote 
again  to  Bawlins,  urging  the  abandonment  of 
these  outlying  posts,  and  the  concentration  of  the 
troops  at  central  points  from  which  they  could 
be  rapidly  sent  to  strengthen  the  moving  army 
in  the  field.  I  pointed  out  that  we  could  never 
put  down  the  rebellion  by  conducting  an  old-fash- 
ioned war  of  occupation  or  positions — that  our 
forces  must  keep  constantly  after  the  rebel  armies 
and  that  all  communities  within  our  lines  should 
be  compelled  to  protect  themselves  against  their 
own  guerrillas.  I  urged  that  by  adopting  this 
policy  and  rigidly  adhering  to  it  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  would  soon  be  able  to  put  that  part  of 
the  Confederacy  against  which  it  was  directed  com- 
pletely on  the  defensive  and  to  give  the  larger  hos- 
tile forces  so  much  employment  that  they  would 
have  but  little  time  and  no  opportunity  for  detach- 
ments, raids,  or  counter  movements  against  our  com- 
munications. 

I  spent  two  weeks  in  the  District  of  West  Ten- 
nessee, traveling  and  working  night  and  day,  sleep- 
ing where  and  when  I  could,  and  eating  what  I  could 
get.  On  my  first  visit  to  Memphis  I  sought  the 
service  of  a  dentist  and  the  work  he  did  left  my 
teeth  in  a  sensitive  and  painful  condition,  which,  for 
the  first  time  in  my  life,  banished  sleep  for  an  en- 
tire night.    But  the  next  day  at  Pocahontas  I  was 

254 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

completely  relieved  and  tranquilized,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  by  a  dose  of  ipecachuana.  Surgeon  Cady 
said  I  was  suffering  from  malaria,  and  while  neither 
he  nor  any  one  else  pretended  to  know  what  malaria 
was,  his  remedy  was  efficacious  and  gave  me  almost 
instantaneous  relief.  This  was  the  nearest  I  came 
to  being  laid  up  during  the  entire  war.  From  the 
first  I  had  a  natural  prejudice  against  flies,  mos- 
quitoes, and  insects  generally,  and  made  it  a  rule 
never  to  sleep  on  the  ground  without  a  mosquito  bar 
when  I  could  get  one,  never  to  drink  surface  water 
or  to  use  either  liquor  or  tobacco,  and  consequently 
I  enjoyed  almost  perfect  health  no  matter  where 
I  was. 

I  governed  my  conduct  by  the  same  rule  in  both 
the  Spanish  and  Boxer  wars,  and  can  truthfully  aver 
that  I  never  lost  a  day  from  duty  by  sickness  during 
my  entire  military  and  civil  career.  The  scientific 
world  now  knows  that  nearly  all  fevers  are  due  to 
inoculation  from  insect  life.  In  my  own  case  habit- 
ually guarding  against  that  sort  of  annoyance  and 
avoiding  excesses  of  all  kinds,  I  am  now  certain  I 
took  the  very  course  that  science  would  have  pre- 
scribed had  it  known  enough  to  prescribe  at  all. 

On  my  last  inspection  at  Memphis  my  horse,  in 
turning  a  corner,  slipped  and  fell  heavily,  catching 
my  left  foot  between  him  and  the  pavement.  I  was 
up  and  remounted  in  a  second,  but  my  heel  and  toes 
had  been  so  pressed  together  and  the  ligaments  and 
muscles  so  strained  that  I  was  soon  in  great  pain. 
On  reaching  headquarters  the  chief  surgeon  cut  the 
boot  from  my  foot,  which  soon  became  so  sore  and 
swollen  that  I  could  not  walk  on  it  for  ten  days. 
Fortunately,  my  work  in  that  district  was  finished 

255 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

and  with  the  support  of  bandages  and  a  pair  of 
crutches  I  took  steamer  for  Helena,  where  I  was 
to  have  made  my  last  inspection,  but  I  was  forced 
to  leave  this  to  my  assistant  attached  to  that  com- 
mand. 

While  at  Memphis  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  still 
engaged  in  organizing  negro  troops,  came  aboard 
and  gave  me  a  full  account  of  General  Grant  's  simi- 
lar injury  at  New  Orleans  a  short  time  before. 

I  arrived  at  Vicksburg  on  September  21  and 
found  the  General  hardly  yet  able  to  go  on  crutches, 
but  neither  of  us  was  in  such  pain  as  to  make 
us  indifferent  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  the  Depart- 
ment or  at  headquarters.  We  found  Eawlins  deeply 
in  love  with  the  beautiful  governess,  but  doubtful 
of  his  fate.  The  lady  was  ' i  uncertain,  coy,  and  hard 
to  please."  They  were  acquaintances  of  but  a  few 
weeks  and  had  been  thrown  together  by  circum- 
stances over  which  neither  had  full  control.  It  was, 
therefore,  not  strange  that  * '  the  course  of  true  love 
did  not  run  smooth,"  or  that  it  took  all  that  their 
friends  could  do  to  guide  them  around  the  obstacles 
in  the  way.  Fortunately,  those  were  not  insuper- 
able, but  the  country  had  reached  a  great  emergency 
in  its  history,  which  controlled  the  immediate  move- 
ments of  both  Grant  and  his  chief-of-staff. 

While  the  General  and  the  rest  were  deeply  in- 
terested in  a  favorable  outcome  of  the  romance, 
there  was  far  more  important  business  both  inside 
and  outside  of  the  Department  requiring  attention. 
In  addition  to  the  facts  set  forth  in  my  written  re- 
ports, I  gave  General  Grant  many  details  of  the 
conditions  at  the  various  points  in  western  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee,  and  especially^  at  Memphis, 

256 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

where  a  large  illicit  contraband  trade  with  the  Con- 
federates was  going  on  through  the  lines.  Cotton, 
then  scarce  at  all  manufacturing  centers,  was  com- 
ing in  in  considerable  quantities,  while  ammunition, 
clothing,  liquors,  medicines,  and  small  supplies  of 
every  kind  were  going  out.  Many  officers  of  rank 
and  consideration,  including  the  provost  marshal, 
a  member  of  Grant 's  department  staff,  were  thought 
to  be  engaged  in  the  illicit  business,  and,  as  it  after- 
ward appeared  from  a  "Eebel  War  Clerk's  Diary," 
the  provost  marshal  was  actually  in  the  pay  of  the 
Confederates.  The  atmosphere  was  heavy  with 
fraud  and  corruption.  The  hotels  were  crowded 
with  Treasury  agents,  cotton  traders,  sharpers  and 
runners  of  every  kind  and  nationality.  The  restric- 
tions on  trade  were  so  light  and  so  easily  avoided 
and  there  was  so  little  actual  campaigning  under 
way  that  the  whole  military  service  in  that  part  of 
the  Department  was  demoralized.  The  situation 
called  for  drastic  measures,  and  for  a  radical  reor- 
ganization of  the  military  administration,  especially 
in  that  region,  as  I  had  already  pointed  out  to  Grant 
and  his  subordinate  generals  and  local  commanders. 
But  this  was  not  the  worst.  Banks'  operations 
on  the  Eed  Eiver  and  Bayou  Teche  were  at  a  stand- 
still, while  affairs  were  fast  reaching  a  crisis  in 
northwestern  Georgia.  Eosecrans  had  driven  Bragg 
across  the  Tennessee,  and,  still  calling  for  reinforce- 
ments, was  advancing  with  exultation  and  confidence 
to  what  he  evidently  thought  certain  victory.  But 
Longstreet,  with  a  veteran  army  corps  from  Lee's 
Army  of  North  Virginia,  all  unknown,  was  making 
his  way  by  rail  to  the  scene  of  what  was  to  be  one 
of  the  deadliest  conflicts  of  the  Civil  War. 

257 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

While  Grant's  victorious  army,  mainly  at  Vicks- 
burg,  midway  between  Eosecrans  and  Banks  and 
five  hundred  miles  as  the  crow  flies  from  either,  was 
still  resting  supinely  in  its  camps,  with  the  General 
himself  confined  to  his  bed  or  his  crutches  by  an 
injured  leg,  he  was  not  altogether  responsible  for 
the  situation.  That,  in  accordance  with  the  vicious 
system  of  the  day,  was  still  controlled  from  Wash- 
ington. Grant  had  recommended  an  expedition  from 
New  Orleans  to  Mobile,  but,  instead  of  authorizing 
that  movement,  it  had  been  turned  down  and  various 
detachments  under  one  pretext  or  another  had  been 
made  from  his  army.  He  was  therefore  becoming 
sensible  of  the  fact  that  his  forces  would  soon  be 
scattered  over  the  whole  theater  of  war  unless  he 
should  lead  them  in  a  body  in  some  particular  direc- 
tion. At  this  juncture  Banks  called  for  further  re- 
enforcements,  but,  fortunately,  before  the  matter 
could  be  disposed  of,  orders  came  from  Halleck, 
September  22,  directing  that  all  the  troops  which 
could  be  spared  from  Mississippi  and  west  Ten- 
nessee should  be  sent  at  once  to  assist  Eosecrans  on 
the  Tennessee  Eiver. 

This  clear  but  long-deferred  order  broke  the  ten 
weeks  •  rest  and  aroused  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee 
into  intense  activity.  I  was  sent  three  days  after 
the  order  was  received  to  Cairo  with  dispatches  by 
the  fastest  steamer  that  could  be  had,  but  had  pro- 
ceeded only  a  hundred  miles  when  her  boilers  gave 
out.  We  were  at  first  taken  in  tow  by  a  gunboat, 
but  I  soon  transferred  to  another  transport  and 
finally  to  a  hospital  steamer,  and  did  not  reach 
Memphis  till  October  1,  nor  Cairo  till  just  before 
midnight  of  the  2d. 

258 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

I  sent  my  dispatches,  including  a  report  of  the 
forces  and  their  disposition,  to  Washington  at  once, 
and  the  next  day  received  a  telegraphic  order  direct- 
ing Grant  to  go  by  the  way  of  Cairo,  Louisville,  and 
Nashville  to  Chattanooga.  With  this  I  started  at 
once  by  the  same  steamer  to  Vicksburg,  but  on  ac- 
count of  low  water,  slow  speed  and  inefficient  officers 
I  did  not  reach  Memphis  till  noon  of  the  6th,  nor 
Vicksburg  till  just  before  noon  of  the  10th.  I  found 
Grant  prepared  for  the  orders  I  carried,  and  in 
pursuance  thereof  we  started  north  that  night  at 
eleven  o  'clock  with  the  entire  staff,  but  did  not  reach 
Cairo  till  the  16th.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  three 
full  weeks,  or  more  than  twice  as  much  time  as  nec- 
essary, were  spent  in  carrying  dispatches  up  and 
down  the  Mississippi  and  in  getting  Grant  in  com- 
munication with  the  Washington  authorities.  This 
was  due  partly  to  low  water,  but  mainly  to  slow  and 
disabled  steamers  and  to  the  unwillingness  of  cap- 
tains and  pilots  to  run  at  night.  I  had  a  strenuous 
and  disheartening  time,  but  by  persuasion,  threats, 
and  an  occasional  appeal  to  military  authority  I 
finally  got  the  officers  and  boats  to  put  forth  their 
best  efforts.  Being  somewhat  of  a  river  man  my- 
self, I  knew  what  could  and  what  could  not  be  done 
quite  as  well  as  the  masters  themselves,  and  insisted 
on  having  my  way. 

Leaving  Cairo  on  October  17,  we  arrived  at 
Indianapolis  on  the  morning  of  the  18th,  and  were 
there  met  by  Mr.  Stanton,  the  Secretary  of  War. 
He  had  never  seen  Grant  nor  any  of  the  staff  ex- 
cept Eawlins,  but  on  coming  to  our  car,  instead  of 
asking  for  Grant,  he  rushed  up  to  Doctor  Kittoe, 
the  staff  surgeon,  who  also  wore  an  army  hat  and 

259 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

full  whiskers,  seized  him  by  the  hand,  and  said  im- 
pulsively: "How  do  you  do,  General  Grant?  I 
recognize  you  from  your  pictures.' ' 

The  scene  which  followed  was  an  embarrassing 
one.  Kittoe  was  quite  as  modest  as  Grant  and  all 
three  were  momentarily  confused.  While  they  were 
blushing  and  Eawlins  was  straightening  out  the  mis- 
take, the  rest  of  the  staff  could  hardly  conceal  their 
smiles.  A  perceptible  interval  elapsed  before  the 
introductions  were  completed  and  the  great  men  of 
the  meeting  got  down  to  business.  Grant,  although 
entirely  without  pretension,  had  been  sensibly  dis- 
concerted, while  the  Secretary  became  at  once  less 
talkative  and  more  reserved  than  had  apparently 
been  his  intention,  but  long  before  they  reached 
Louisville  they  had  recovered  and  either  talked  them- 
selves out  or  become  wary  of  each  other.  Of  course, 
no  one  overheard  what  passed  between  Grant  and 
Stanton,  but  it  is  certain  that  none  of  the  staff 
looked  upon  what  occurred  on  the  train  or  after- 
ward at  Louisville  as  having  established  close  or 
sympathetic  relations  between  them.  The  simple 
fact  is,  without  reference  to  the  cause  or  to  the  idio- 
syncrasies of  these  two  great  characters,  that  they 
never  became  close  personal  friends.  They  sup- 
ported each  other  loyally  and  efficiently  to  the  end 
of  the  war,  but  neither  ever  became  a  devoted  ally 
of  the  other. 

The  night  we  arrived  at  Louisville,  Grant  and 
most  of  the  staff  went  to  the  theater,  but  Eawlins 
disapproved  highly  and  did  not  hesitate  to  inveigh 
against  it  as  a  thoughtless  and  undignified  proceed- 
ing. He  was  at  best  rather  inclined  to  be  taciturn 
and  moody.     Deeply  impressed  by  the  combined 

260 


SHERMAN'S  ALABAMA  CAMPAIGN 

wickedness  and  strength  of  the  rebellion  and  the 
necessity  of  putting  it  down  at  whatever  cost,  he 
allowed  himself  but  little  relaxation  and  no  dissi- 
pation. He  seemed  to  think  it  rather  a  time  for  pen-1 
ance  and  prayer  than  for  enjoyment,  however  inno- 
cent, and  was  unusually  concerned  for  Grant  and 
the  outcome  of  the  new  responsibilities  which  had 
just  been  imposed  upon  him.  He  realized  that  his 
general  was  now  face  to  face  with  the  greatest 
task  of  his  life.  The  four  military  departments  of 
the  Mississippi  valley  had  at  last  been  consolidated 
into  a  great  military  division  as  Grant  had  recom- 
mended the  year  before,  and  Grant  had  been  placed 
in  chief  command,  as  he  had  not  recommended.  The 
military  administration  in  Washington,  rather  than 
in  the  field,  had  been  out-maneuvered  and  beaten  by 
the  Government  at  Eichmond.  Ten  weeks  had  been 
lost  by  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee.  Eosecrans  had 
been  defeated  before  the  reinforcements  so  tardily 
ordered  from  Grant's  Department  could  reach  him. 
The  chief  point  of  interest — the  strategic  center  of 
the  entire  western  theater  of  war — was  now  at  Chat- 
tanooga, where  the  beaten  army  had  been  shut  up 
and  besieged.  To  meet  this  great  emergency  plen- 
ary power  and  authority  had  been  imposed  upon 
Grant,  and  no  one  knew  better  than  Eawlins  what- 
this  new  responsibility  implied.  He  had  personally u 
promised  "the  eyes  of  the  Government"  that  his 
chief,  notwithstanding  his  infirmities,  would  make 
good,  and  his  promise  had  been  redeemed  in  a  man- 
ner and  by  means  to  which  no  individual  had  con- 
tributed mere  and  of  which  none  knew  the  details 
so  fully  as  himself.  It  is  not  strange  that  Eawlins, 
who  had  the  more  sensitive  conscience,  should  that 

261 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

night  at  Louisville  have  denied  himself  and  taken 
a  serious  view  of  the  new  campaign,  the  heaviest 
details  of  which  were  sure  to  fall  upon  himself. 

I  spent  the  evening  with  him  and  Bowers  con- 
ferring about  the  necessity  of  reconstructing  the 
staff  and  of  putting  brains  and  respectability  into 
such  vacancies  as  we  could  find  or  make.  We  three 
had  been  of  one  mind  from  the  first  as  to  the  men 
surrounding  the  General,  and  now  that  he  was  on 
the  threshold  of  a  still  greater  career  we  felt  deeply 
concerned  that  he  should  find  the  right  sort  of  offi- 
cers to  assist  in  the  great  work  before  him. 

Just  before  midnight,  October  19,  1863,  I  wrote 
a  friend  hurriedly  to  make  certain  that  he  would 
understand  the  newspaper  reports  correctly: 

.  .  .  General  Grant  takes  command  of  the  Depart- 
ments and  Armies  of  the  Tennessee,  Cumberland  and  Ohio, 
as  the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi,  headquarters 
in  the  field.  Rosecrans  is  relieved  and  Major  General 
George  H.  Thomas  takes  his  place.  Sherman  commands 
the  Department  of  the  Tennessee.  These  changes  are  radi- 
cal, of  vast  moment  and  most  intimately  concern  the  Na- 
tion's welfare.  I  think  they  are  in  the  right  direction  and 
if  properly  backed  ought  to  give  us  most  decisive  results. 
There  are  many  things  connected  with  them  I  should  like 
to  write — but  cannot  for  want  of  time.  We  start  for  the 
front  at  daylight. 


262 


THE   CHATTANOOGA  CAMPAIGN 

Rosecrans  relieved — Thomas  succeeds — "Will  hold  Chat- 
tanooga till  we  starve* ' — Grant  and  staff  arrive — 
Meet  Thomas — Ride  to  Chattanooga — Recommended 
for  promotion — Porter  introduced — Grant  and  Thomas 
— Baldy  Smith — Opening  the  Cracker  Line — Ride  to 
Knoxville — Orders  for  Burnside. 

Before  leaving  Louisville  a  telegram  from  Dana 
reached  us  indicating  that  the  hard-pressed  army  at 
Chattanooga  was  so  in  need  of  food  and  forage 
that  it  might  have  to  give  up  the  place  and  fall  back 
to  a  new  base  on  the  railroad  from  Nashville  to 
Chattanooga,  and  it  was  this  dispatch  that  called 
forth  Grant's  celebrated  order:  "Hold  Chatta- 
nooga at  all  hazards/ '  as  well  as  Thomas'  character- 
istic reply :    * '  I  will  hold  the  town  till  we  starve ! ' ' 

These  two  messages  tell  the  story.  Kosecrans, 
never  having  had  Grant's  full  confidence,  and  not 
having  yet  recovered  from  the  stunning  blow  in- 
flicted on  him  at  Chickamauga,  had  been  relieved 
from  command;  the  enemy  had  closed  in  and  the 
national  troops  were  on  short  rations,  but  it  was  a 
great  satisfaction  to  know  that  the  imperturbable 
Thomas  would  hold  the  town  till  he  and  his  army 
starved.     With  that  stern  assurance  we  made  the 

263 


UNDER   THE    OLD    FLAG 

trip  through  Nashville  to  Stevenson  without  inci- 
dent or  additional  anxiety.  Dana  met  us  on  the  road 
and  gave  us  full  particulars  of  the  great  battle  and 
its  results,  as  well  as  of  the  situation  at  Chattanooga 
and  of  the  rupture  of  communications  between  that 
place  and  the  rear.  He  explained  the  break  in  the 
railroad  in  the  Wauhatchie  valley,  the  difficulty  of 
bringing  supplies  by  steamboat  from  Bridgeport 
through  the  "Pot  and  Kettle' '  and  the  ''Suck,"  and 
informed  us  that  the  rebel  sharp-shooters  had  com- 
mand of  the  river  at  and  below  Brown's  Ferry.  He 
pointed  out  the  long  and  rough  roads  from  Chatta- 
nooga to  Bridgeport  through  the  mountains  north 
of  the  river  and  the  immediate  necessity  of  short- 
ening the  supply  line.  By  the  time  we  reached 
Stevenson  near  the  crossing  of  the  Tennessee,  we 
had  an  accurate  understanding  of  the  situation. 
Hooker  had  already  arrived  with  Howard  's  and  Slo- 
cum's  corps  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Sher- 
man was  on  his  way  from  Memphis  and,  as  far  as 
men  were  concerned,  it  was  evident  that  we  would 
soon  have  enough  to  hold  Chattanooga  and  the  in- 
termediate country  against  all  comers  if  we  could 
supply  them  properly. 

On  reaching  the  end  of  the  road  word  came  from 
Hooker  that  he  was  not  well  and  would  like  Grant 
to  call  on  him  at  his  quarters.  They  had  been 
brother  officers  and  boon  companions  years  before 
on  the  Columbia,  but  had  not  met  since  the  outbreak 
of  the  war.  It  was  at  once  evident  that  Hooker  was 
"trying  it  on"  with  Grant,  and  naturally  both  Eaw- 
lins  and  I  were  struck  by  the  message  we  had  just 
overheard.  Without  waiting  for  Grant  to  reply, 
Eawlins  said  at  once  and  in  a  tone  that  could  not  be 

264 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

misunderstood :  ' '  General  Grant  himself  is  not  very- 
well  and  will  not  leave  his  car  to-night.  He  expects 
General  Hooker  and  all  other  generals  who  have 
business  with  him  to  call  at  once,  as  he  will  start 
overland  to  Chattanooga  early  to-morrow  morning. '  V 

This  settled  it  promptly  and  unmistakably  for 
Hooker  as  well  as  for  everybody  else.  Rosecrans, 
who  had  already  left  Chattanooga  for  the  North, 
called  shortly  after  Grant's  arrival  at  Stevenson, 
and  in  addition  to  paying  his  respects,  imparted  all 
the  information  he  had  to  Grant,  whom  he  knew 
well  as  his  department  commander  at  Corinth  and 
Iuka.  The  meeting  was  brief  and  courteous  but  not 
effusive.  They  were  far  from  sympathetic  with 
each  other.  Grant's  intimates  knew  that  he  re- 
garded Rosecrans  as  an  able  man,  but  as  Jesuitical, 
insincere,  and  pretentious  and  that  Rosecrans  on  the 
other  hand  thought  Grant  rather  "a  fool  for  luck"- 
than  a  great  commander. 

I  had  not  previously  met  Rosecrans,  but  before 
taking  his  departure  he  called  me  aside  and  gave  me 
the  first  information  I  had  yet  received  that  he  had 
applied  to  the  War  Department  for  my  detail  as 
colonel  of  a  veteran  three-battalion  regiment  of  vol- 
unteer engineers,  which  would  in  turn  give  me  com- 
mand of  the  brigade  then  under  Colonel  St.  Clair 
Morton.  This  flattering  news  was  no  surprise,  how- 
ever, for  Dana  had  already  informed  me  that  Baldy 
Smith,  the  chief  engineer,  and  Horace  Porter,  the 
chief  of  ordnance,  had  made  the  suggestion,  and  had 
already  carried  it  as  far  as  it  could  go  without  the 
concurrence  of  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  state.  It  was  an  exceedingly  kind  ac- 
tion on  the  part  of  all  concerned,  and  would  have 

265 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

suited  me  exactly,  but,  in  the  excitement  of  the  other 
duties  which  fell  to  my  lot,  it  was  soon  forgotten. 
As  it  afterwards  appeared,  Grant  was  about  to  rec- 
ommend me  for  promotion  to  brigadier  general  and, 
pending  the  appointment,  naturally  took  but  little 
interest  in  securing  the  lower  grade  of  colonel  for 
me.  With  his  usual  kindly  reticence  he  did  not 
mention  the  matter  till  some  time  afterwards.  But 
meanwhile  in  grateful  recognition  of  Porter's 
thoughtful  concurrence  with  Dana,  when  a  suitable 
^occasion  presented  itself,  I  said  to  Grant:  "Porter 
is  a  man  you  ought  to  have  on  your  staff.  He  was 
my  classmate  and  roommate  at  West  Point.  He  was 
cadet  adjutant  and  is  a  very  able  man,  fit  to  com- 
mand an  army  corps."  Although  I  heard  Grant 
shortly  afterward  using  those  exact  words,  as  far 
as  I  knew,  he  took  no  immediate  action  in  Porter's 
behalf,  which  was  somewhat  puzzling,  but  it  was 
made  clear  a  few  weeks  later  as  Porter  was  taking 
his  leave,  that  Grant  had  not  forgotten  him  but 
wanted  him  to  wait  till  action  was  taken  on  certain 
telegrams  he  had  lately  sent  to  Washington.  As  it 
turned  out,  these  telegrams  related,  first,  to  my  own 
promotion  to  brigadier  general,  and,  second,  to  Por- 
ter's as  lieutenant  colonel,  both  of  which  Grant  had 
no  doubt  would  follow.  In  further  explanation  he 
said  the  Secretary  of  War  had  assured  him  at  Louis- 
ville that  he  could  make  no  request  in  such  matters 
that  would  not  be  promptly  granted.  He  added  in 
further  explanation  that  he  had  himself  conceived 
the  idea  of  making  Porter  lieutenant  colonel  and 
inspector  general  in  my  place  before  he  was  advised 
of  the  steps  taken  by  Thomas  and  the  other  generals 
to  secure  a  higher  grade  for  him,  and  that  he  did 

266 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

not  want  Porter  to  reach  Washington  ahead  of  for- 
mal papers  in  his  case. 

These  facts,  added  to  what  I  learned  from  Eaw- 
lins,  made  it  clear  that  the  General  did  not  wish  to 
complicate  my  case  with  that  of  any  other  officer, 
however  meritorious,  who  had  been  serving  under 
another  general  with  another  army. 

My  promotion  came  in  due  time,  and  I  may  be 
pardoned  for  adding  that  I  was  the  only  officer  ever 
promoted  from  Grant's  regular  staff  to  command 
troops.  He  early  conceived  the  idea,  from  my  horse- 
manship, which  came  to  me  quite  as  much  in  the 
way  of  inheritance  as  instruction,  that  I  would  make 
a  good  cavalry  commander. 

I  have  always  regarded  it  as  a  most  gratifying 
coincidence  that  Eosecrans  should  have  asked  Hal- 
leck,  October  17,  to  make  me  colonel  of  a  veteran 
engineer  regiment,  expressing  his  preference  for  me 
over  "all  others,"  while  Grant,  through  Dana,  Oc- 
tober 29,  1863,  urged *  Stanton  to  appoint  me  a 
brigadier  general  to  command  cavalry,  for  which 
both  Grant  and  Dana  were  pleased  to  say,  "he  pos- 
sesses uncommon  qualifications. "  2  When  I  joined 
Grant  just  a  year  before,  my  rank  was  only  that  of 
first  lieutenant  of  engineers.  My  promotion  as  as- 
sistant inspector  general  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant 
colonel  of  volunteers  and  captain  of  engineers  in 
the  regular  establishment  had  followed.  Now, 
when  just  rounding  my  twenty-sixth  year  to  be 
named  by  Eosecrans  as  colonel  to  command  engi- 
neers and  by  Grant  as  brigadier  general  to  command 
cavalry,  was  not  only  a  fine  reward  for  such  service 

10.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXX,  Part  IV,  p.  435. 
2  O.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXXI,  Part  I,  p.  73. 

267 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

as  I  had  been  able  to  render,  but  was  also  crown- 
ing evidence  that  I  had  General  Grant's  good  will 
and  confidence,  for  both  of  which  I  have  always  been 
deeply  grateful. 

While  it  should  be  noted  that  Grant  did  not  meet 
Porter  till  the  night  he  got  into  Chattanooga,  nor 
succeed  in  getting  him  assigned  to  his  staff  till  after 
he  had  been  commissioned  lieutenant  general,  and 
had  gone  east  to  take  command  of  all  our  forces  in 
the  field,  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  good  opinions 
Porter  received  from  all  at  Chattanooga  as  well  as 
from  me  were  conclusive  factors  in  his  final  promo- 
tion and  subsequent  career.  Ordnance  officers  were 
scarce,  and  all  the  influences  of  the  bureau  chief 
were  against  their  detachment.  The  final  order  in 
the  case  was  not  made,  however,  till  Dana  returned 
to  his  duties  in  the  War  Department,  but  even  then 
it  was  largely  due  to  Dana's  personal  intercession. 

Meanwhile  this  narrative  has  brought  Grant  and 
his  staff  no  farther  than  Bridgeport,  where  they 
were  compelled  to  take  horse  for  a  roundabout  ride 
up  the  Sequatchie  Valley  and  across  the  mountains 
to  Chattanooga.  The  General  had  mounted  a 
horse  for  the  first  time  since  his  injury  at  New  Or- 
leans, hence  his  progress  was  both  painful  and  slow. 
The  road  was  rough  and  muddy,  and  the  traveling 
bad,  but  he  got  a  considerable  distance  beyond  Jas- 
per that  night.  As  I  was  anxious  to  have  at  least 
one  day  in  which  to  study  the  situation  of  the  be- 
leagured  army  in  its  own  camp  and  behind  its  own 
breastworks  before  Grant  got  there,  I  was  bent  on 
pushing  on.  Dana,  who  was  familiar  with  the  roads 
and  all  the  short  cuts,  went  along  as  guide,  and, 
after  baiting  our  horses  and  getting  something  to 

268 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

eat  for  ourselves,  we  struck  out  eastward  up  the 
mountain  side.  Darkness  overtook  us  soon  after  we 
reached  the  plateau  of  Walden's  Ridge,  and  after 
nine  o'clock  we  found  ourselves  near  its  eastern 
edge  overlooking  the  valley  in  the  direction  of  Chat- 
tanooga. It  was  a  wild  and  somber  scene.  The 
forest  was  almost  unbroken,  and  not  a  sound  reached 
our  ears  except  the  hooting  of  an  owl  or  the  baying 
of  a  far-away  "honest  watch  dog."  It  was  a  clear, 
brilliant  night  and  the  light  of  the  new  moon  made  it 
dangerous  to  proceed.  There  was  nothing  to  be  done 
but  dismount  and  wait  for  the  moon  to  set  and  cover 
the  road  with  darkness  and  security.  Fortunately 
we  lost  but  an  hour  or  so,  which  we  passed  in  con- 
versing about  the  campaign  before  us,  broken  oc- 
casionally by  poetry  and  romance.  Dana  was  at 
that  time  in  the  prime  of  his  intellectual  life,  and 
there  was  a  charm  in  his  conversation  that  made 
time  slip  by  unnoticed. 

At  ten  o'clock  we  remounted  and  descended  by 
the  crooked  road  to  the  north  bank  of  the  Tennessee 
River,  which  in  that  stretch  runs  through  a  gorge 
only  eight  or  nine  hundred  feet  wide.  The  enemy's 
pickets  and  sharp-shooters  lined  the  opposite  bank 
for  some  distance;  and  although  we  kept  in  the 
shadow  of  the  trees  and  sought  the  softer  parts  of 
the  road  so  we  could  be  neither  seen  nor  heard,  the 
enemy's  riflemen  took  an  occasional  crack  at  us. 
Fortunately  the  man  who  shoots  at  a  sound  in  the 
dark  shoots  wild,  and  consequently  we  ran  the  gant- 
let and  reached  the  ferry  at  Chattanooga  without 
delay.  Dana  knew  the  guard  as  well  as  the  ferry- 
man, and  got  us  promptly  across  the  river.  Thread- 
ing the  streets  of  the  sleeping  town,  we  reached 

269 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Captain  Porter's  quarters  just  before  midnight. 
Although  we  were  not  expected  and  his  larder  was 
lean,  he  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome.  As  we  were 
both  desperately  tired  and  hungry  he  made  haste  to 
give  us  supper,  consisting  of  fried  hard-tack,  salt 
pork,  and  coffee  without  sugar  or  milk.  With  char- 
acteristic wit  our  host  made  this  simple  fare  more 
acceptable  than  a  dinner  at  Delmonico's,  but  when 
he  explained  that  he  could  give  our  half -famished 
horses  only  two  ears  of  corn  apiece  and  no  hay,  we 
recognized  that  we  were  surely  within  a  beleagured 
garrison  on  short  rations,  and  that  the  direct  sup- 
ply line  must  be  reopened  as  quickly  as  possible. 

Our  hunger  appeased,  we  devoted  the  rest  of  the 
night  to  talking  over  old  times  and  present  pros- 
pects. As  previously  stated,  Porter  and  I  had  served 
together  at  Port  Eoyal  and  Antietam  and  had  much 
to  tell  each  other.  According  to  all  accounts  he 
had  borne  himself  exceedingly  well  in  the  late  cam- 
paign and  battle,  and  had  won  good  opinions  from 
all.  As  an  officer  of  careful  observation  and  sound 
judgment,  his  prospects  for  early  promotion  seemed 
to  be  good,  but  unfortunately  he  was  under  orders 
which  compelled  him  to  return  to  the  Ordnance 
Bureau  at  Washington  as  soon  as  his  relief  arrived 
and  he  could  turn  over  his  property.  Notwithstand- 
ing that  Porter  and  I  spent  the  night  without  sleep, 
Dana  and  I  were  out  by  daylight  riding  through  the 
camps  and  around  the  lines  of  defense.  We  found 
the  troops  cheerful  and  comfortable,  and  their  posi- 
tion impregnable  so  long  as  they  were  supplied  with 
food  and  munitions.  Although  they  were  on  short 
rations,  and  had  been  roughly  handled  before  falling 
back  into  Chattanooga,  they  were  now  self-reliant 

270 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

and  confident.  We  found  the  artillery  horses,  how- 
ever, starving  for  want  of  forage  and  the  roads  to 
the  depots  in  rear  so  long  and  so  muddy  that  the 
mules  could  hardly  haul  enough  forage  to  feed  them- 
selves both  ways.  The  situation  though  far  from 
desperate  was  grave  enough.  We  could  see  at  least 
a  week  into  the  future,  but  with  falling  and  wintry 
weather  it  was  clearly  impossible  for  the  army  to 
hold  its  advanced  position  indefinitely,  strong  as  it 
was,  unless  the  railroad  to  the  rear  could  be  repos- 
sessed, repaired,  and  held  against  the  enemy. 

This  was  apparent  to  all,  from  the  highest  gen- 
eral to  the  lowest  private.  Fortunately  the  Wash- 
ington authorities  had  already  selected  and  sent  out 
an  officer  fully  capable  of  dealing  with  every  ques- 
tion connected  with  the  extraordinary  circumstances 
of  the  case.  I  refer  to  General  William  Farrar 
Smith  of  the  Regular  Engineers.  To  distinguish 
him  from  many  other  officers  of  the  same  surname, 
he  had  been  designated  while  still  a  cadet,  and  was 
always  known  thereafter  as  "Baldy  Smith.'  ■  He 
had  organized  the  Vermont  "Iron  Brigade,,  and 
commanded  the  Sixth  Army  Corps  with  credit,  but 
he  was  one  of  those  distinguished  men  of  the  old 
army  whose  sharp  tongue  and  sententious  speech 
had  done  much  to  make  enemies  in  high  place  and 
to  mar  his  immediate  career.  He  was  popular  with 
his  subordinates,  for  he  was  a  conscientious,  pains- 
taking, and  industrious  officer  who  spared  no  effort 
to  keep  his  soldiers  in  good  condition  or  to  lead 
them  successfully,  no  matter  how  great  the  diffi- 
culties which  surrounded  them.  He  had  been  one 
of  my  instructors  at  West  Point,  and  I  had  carried 
orders  to  him  during  the  battle  of  Antietam,  but  up 

271 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

to  my  meeting  him  at  Chattanooga  I  knew  but  little 
of  him  except  by  hearsay.1 

As  soon  as  the  proper  time  came,  we  rode  to 
headquarters  «to  pay  our  respects  to  the  new  com- 
manding general.  I  had  never  seen  him  before,  but 
Dana,  who  presented  me,  had  fully  described  him 
and  his  imperturbable  sangfroid  and  courage  dur- 
ing the  campaign  and  battle  of  Chickamauga.  My 
mind  had  therefore  become  strongly  prepossessed 
in  his  favor,  and  I  was  ready  to  greet  him  as  an  able 
and  reliable  commander,  but  I  am  free  to  confess  I 
was  not  prepared  to  see  in  him  so  many  of  the  ex- 
ternal evidences  of  greatness.  Six  feet  tall,  of  Jove- 
like figure,  impressive  countenance,  and  lofty  bear- 
ing, he  struck  me  at  once  as  I  have  elsewhere  said, 
as  resembling  the  traditional  Washington  in  ap- 
pearance, manners,  and  character  more  than  any 
man  I  had  ever  met.  I  found  him  as  calm  and  se- 
rene as  the  morning.  He  received  me  gravely  and 
courteously,  but  without  the  slightest  show  of  un- 
easiness or  concern.  He  expressed  a  modest  con- 
fidence in  being  able  to  make  good  his  hold  on 
Chattanooga,  and  at  once  inspired  me  with  faith  in 
his  steadiness  and  courage.  He  intimated  that  he 
had  never  sought  command  nor,  contrary  to  the 
popular  impression,  declined  it  when  offered,  but 
felt  himself  fully  competent  to  meet  all  the  re- 
sponsibility that  might  be  laid  upon  him.  And  later 
when  I  came  to  know  him  better,  he  not  only  con- 
firmed the  impression  of  perfect  self-reliance  he 
gave  me  on  that  occasion,  but  made  it  clear  that  the 

*The  character  and  services  of  this  officer  are  fully  set  forth 
in  "The  Life  of  Major-General  William  Farrar  Smith/ '  by  James 
Harrison  Wilson,  The  Eogers  Press,  Wilmington,  Del. 

272 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

need  of  supervision  from  any  source  had  never  pre- 
sented itself  to  his  mind. 

In  our  brief  interview  he  asked  after  Grant's 
health,  and  at  what  hour  he  might  be  expected.  As 
soon  as  he  had  my  answer  he  indicated  that  the 
General  should  be  his  guest  till  he  could  select  and 
occupy  quarters  of  his  own,  and  then  referred  me 
to  Smith  for  whatever  information  I  might  need  in 
regard  to  the  situation  of  the  army.  It  was  a  long 
and  busy  day,  for  I  continued  my  investigations 
with  Smith  and  did  not  get  back  to  headquarters  till 
nine  o'clock  that  night. 

It  had  been  raining  since  midnight  of  the  22d. 
The  mountain  road  was  steep,  muddy,  and  slippery, 
but  Grant  and  his  staff,  wet,  hungry,  and  tired, 
had  arrived  after  nightfall.  We  had  parted  at 
Jasper,  but  from  there  they  had  taken  a  more  north- 
ern and  more  circuitous  road  and  had  slept  on  the 
mountain.  Starting  early  and  traveling  as  fast  as 
their  horses  could  carry  them,  they  left  their  wag- 
ons, baggage,  and  camp  equipage  behind,  not  be- 
cause they  did  not  need  them,  but  because  they  could 
not  keep  up.  Grant  had  suffered  greatly  during  the 
long  and  tiresome  ride,  and  to  make  matters  worse, 
"Old  Jack,"  his  sturdy  claybank  horse,  had  slipped 
and  fallen  heavily  with  him,  severely  jamming  his 
injured  leg,  just  after  they  had  crossed  the  Tennes- 
see and  entered  the  town. 

On  getting  back  to  headquarters,  I  found  Grant 
at  one  side  of  the  fireplace,  steaming  from  the  heat 
over  a  small  puddle  which  had  run  from  his  sodden 
clothing.  Thomas  was  on  the  other  side,  neither 
saying  a  word,  but  both  looking  glum  and  ill  at  ease. 
What  the  greeting  between  them  had  been  I  did  not 

273 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

stop  to  inquire,  but  learning  from  Rawlins  that 
nothing  had  yet  been  offered  for  their  comfort,  and 
knowing  that  Grant  would  not  condescend  to  ask 
for  an  act  of  hospitality,  I  took  the  liberty  of  say- 
ing: "General  Thomas,  General  Grant  is  wet  and 
tired  and  ought  to  have  some  dry  clothes,  particu- 
larly a  pair  of  socks  and  a  pair  of  slippers.  He  is 
hungry,  besides,  and  needs  something  to  eat.  Can't 
your  officers  attend  to  these  matters  for  him!" 

This  broke  the  silence  and  set  the  machinery  of 
hospitality  in  motion.  It  had  apparently  not  oc- 
curred to  the  stately  Virginian  that  Grant  was  his 
guest  as  well  as  his  commanding  general,  but  I  had 
hardly  spoken  before  he  called  Willard,  his  senior 
aid-de-camp,  and  directed  him  to  find  clothes  and 
order  supper  for  the  party.  Everything  possible 
was  done  and  apparently  in  the  most  cheerful  man- 
ner to  make  Grant  and  his  staff  comfortable  for  the 
night.  Conversation  became  free,  if  not  hilarious. 
Supper  was  served  and  in  due  time  quarters  were 
found  for  all.  General  Smith  and  Captain  Porter 
called  during  the  evening  and  were  presented  and 
at  once  established  friendly  relations  with  the  new 
commander.1  Neither  had  ever  seen  him  before  and 
both  were  favorably  impressed  by  his  gentle  and 
modest  demeanor.  They  soon  became  fast  friends 
with  him,  the  first  for  a  year  or  more  and  the  second 
for  a  lifetime.  But  Thomas's  coolness  and  neglect 
at  first  were  so  apparent  to  all  that  Grant  made 
haste  to  establish  his  own  headquarters,  though  his 
wagons  did  not  reach  town  till  the  second  day  after- 
ward. 

What  could  have  offended  Thomas  remained  al- 

1  Porter 's  ' '  Campaigning  with  Grant, ' '  pp.  4-6  et  seq. 
274 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

ways  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  he  felt  justified  in  the  reserve  which  he  showed 
towards  Grant,  not  only  then  but  always  afterwards. 
It  is  certain  that  this  reserve  was  perceived  and 
imitated  by  his  staff  and  that  cordial  and  friendly 
relations  were  never  established  between  their  re- 
spective headquarters.  Eawlins  was  one  of  the  first 
to  note  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  General  Whip- 
ple, Thomas's  chief-of-staff,  an  old  regular,  to  raise 
technical  objections,  amounting  in  several  instances 
to  personal  rudeness  in  regard  to  current  business, 
and  these  became  so  annoying  that  he  was  forced  to 
put  an  end  to  them  by  positive  orders.  Withal,  re- 
lations never  became  cordial  or  friendly,  and  this 
fact  in  some  degree  explains  Grant's  readiness  to 
prefer  Sherman,  McPherson,  and  even  Sheridan  to 
Thomas,  and  to  charge  Thomas  with  being  slow,  not 
only  in  action,  but  in  his  mental  operations. 

I  have  always  been  inclined  to  think  that  Thomas, 
having  graduated  higher  at  West  Point,  entered  a 
more  scientific  arm  of  service  and  served  generally 
with  greater  distinction,  regarded  himself  as  a  bet- 
ter soldier  than  Grant,  and  that  he  thereby,  perhaps 
unconsciously,  resented  Grant's  assignment  to  duty 
over  him.  In  considering  their  relations  he  might 
have  recalled  the  fact  that  he  had  never  been  in 
trouble  in  regard  to  his  habits,  and  that  when  they 
came  together  at  Shiloh  and  in  the  Corinth  cam- 
paign, Halleck  had  stripped  Grant  of  his  troops  and 
given  them  to  him.  It  would  not  have  been  strange 
if  the  correct  and  austere  Thomas  had  said  to  him- 
self, it  is  true  that  Grant  captured  Donelson  and 
Vicksburg,  but  was  defeated  at  Shiloh  and  slighted 
in  the  campaign  which  followed,  while  I  was  vie- 

275 


UNDEE    THE    OLD   FLAG 

torious  at  Mill  Spring,  preferred  in  the  Corinth  cam- 
paign, and  saved  a  great  army  at  Chickamanga.  Be 
all  this  as  it  may,  it  seems  to  be  certain  that  Thomas 
acted  with  reserve  towards  Grant  in  the  Shiloh-Cor- 
inth  campaign  the  year  before,  had  not  met  him 
again  till  the  fortune  of  war  brought  them  together 
at  Chattanooga,  and  finally  was  not  disposed  to 
change  his  attitude  merely  because  Grant  was  now 
his  commanding  officer.  He  doubtless  believed  to 
the  end  that  while  Grant  had  put  him  in  Eosecrans' 
place,  it  was  not  because  he  loved  Thomas  more,  but 
because  he  distrusted  Eosecrans  too  much  to  keep 
him  in  command  at  all. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  enjoy  most  friendly 
relations  with  Thomas  from  the  start,  and  to  play 
the  part  of  mutual  friend  between  him  and  Grant 
to  the  end  of  the  war.  Much  to  my  regret  I  was 
never  entirely  successful  in  establishing  cordial  re- 
lations between  them,  but  I  shall  have  occasion  dur- 
ing this  narrative  to  point  out  several  instances  in 
which  my  efforts  strengthened  the  favorable  feel- 
ings of  each  for  the  other.  While  they  were  both 
entirely  honorable  in  their  personal  and  official  con- 
duct, I  have  always  thought  that  Grant  was  at  first 
more  considerate  and  conciliatory  towards  Thomas 
than  Thomas  was  towards  Grant.  This  was  certainly 
the  case  at  Chattanooga,  but  after  all  they  were  both 
strong  men  with  different  points  of  view,  habits  of 
mind,  and  idiosyncrasies,  and  it  is  by  no  means 
strange  that  their  prejudices  and  their  preferences 
should  have  pushed  them  in  different  directions. 
Whatever  their  personal  feelings  may  have  been  to- 
wards each  other  they  were  both  beyond  all  question 
loyal  to  their  sense  of  duty. 

276 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

The  next  two  days  were  spent  in  further  investi- 
gating the  situation  at  Chattanooga.  I  found  that 
General  Baldy  Smith,  who  arrived  shortly  after  the 
army  occupied  the  place,  had  carefully  worked  out 
a  plan  for  shortening  communications  with  the  rear, 
had  discovered  a  way  to  seize  the  northern  entrance 
to  Lookout  Valley  at  Brown's  Ferry,  and  had  ar- 
ranged to  lay  a  bridge  across  the  Tennessee  at  that 
point  so  that  the  troops  coming  from  Bridgeport 
might  repair  the  railroad  and  occupy  the  valley 
against  the  enemy  on  Lookout  Mountain.  He  had 
carefully  settled  all  the  details,  and  General  Thomas 
had  given  the  suggestions  and  plans  his  full  ap- 
proval. This  important  point  minimized  the  work 
of  General  Grant  and  placed  upon  him  merely  the 
responsibility  of  carrying  the  plans  already  ma- 
tured into  effect.  Smith  personally  guided  him  and 
me  to  the  place  at  which  the  crossing  of  the  Ten- 
nessee should  be  made  and  explained  the  details  of 
how  he  would  seize  the  place  and  lay  a  bridge  for 
the  passage  of  the  troops.  As  a  part  of  the  plan 
I  was  sent  to  Bridgeport  on  the  25th  to  accompany 
Hooker  and  his  troops  through  Lookout  Valley. 
This  movement  beginning  on  the  27th,  crossed  the 
Tennessee  on  a  pontoon  bridge  at  Shellmound  and 
reached  Whitesides  at  dark,  where  we  first  encoun- 
tered the  enemy's  pickets,  capturing  two  men  of  the 
Ninth  Kentucky  Bebel  Cavalry.  The  next  day  we 
pushed  on  through  the  valley,  encountering  here 
and  there  a  small  hostile  force,  and  finally  in  the 
evening  formed  a  junction  with  Smith's  command 
at  Brown's  Ferry. 

But,  unfortunately,  Hooker  stopped  short  of 
safety  in  the  valley  and  allowed  a  portion  of  his 

277 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

troops  under  Geary  to  go  into  camp  at  a  place 
known  as  Wauhatchie,  three  miles  south  of  Brown's 
Ferry,  while  the  rest  of  his  command  spread  over 
the  country  between  the  two  places.  The  rebels  oc- 
cupying Lookout  Mountain  could  see  the  disorder 
on  our  side  and  evidently  thought  the  opportunity 
too  good  to  lose.  Accordingly  in  the  dead  of  night 
they  made  a  descent  and  a  vigorous  attack  on 
Geary's  camp  and  gained  a  partial  success.  Hooker 
himself,  in  explaining  the  matter  as  we  rode  over 
the  grounds  the  next  day,  said  if  it  had  not  been 
that  Geary's  mules  became  stampeded  and  galloped 
down  upon  the  rebels  like  a  charge  of  cavalry,  the 
dash  against  Geary's  camp  would  have  been  com- 
pletely successful.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  mules 
did  stampede  and  gallop  wildly  through  the  oncom- 
ing rebels,  but  I  have  always  supposed  that  the  re- 
pulse of  the  attack  was  due  mainly  to  the  courage 
and  steadiness  of  Geary  and  his  men.  In  telling 
the  mule  story  Hooker  strongly  insisted  that  the 
Confederates  had  been  so  alarmed  at  what  they  sup- 
posed was  a  cavalry  charge  that  they  threw  down 
their  arms  and  ran  for  their  lives.  He  claimed  that 
our  men  after  the  action  picked  up  over  a  thousand 
muskets  which  the  flying  Southerners  had  thrown 
down.  Naturally,  I  should  have  believed  the  story 
on  seeing  the  muskets,  and  asked  the  General  to 
show  them  to  me,  but  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  state 
that  they  had  disappeared.  The  truth  is  the  rebels 
carried  off  about  all  the  guns  they  brought  with 
them,  and  that  those  our  men  picked  up,  if  there 
were  any  such,  belonged  to  our  own  people.  Gen- 
eral Hooker  did  not  tell  the  story  of  the  mule  charge 
again  in  my  presence,  but  I  believe  it  has  grown  to 

278 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

be  semi-historical.  We  lost  between  three  and  four 
hundred  men,  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  which 
shows  that  the  enemy's  attack  was  well  directed  and 
had  plenty  of  impulse.  His  loss  was  only  twenty 
killed  and  sixty  prisoners. 

Instead  of  stopping  that  night  with  the  column  I 
went  on  to  headquarters  and  told  the  General  about 
the  disorderly  and  scattered  condition  of  Hooker's 
camp.  He  was  at  first  disposed  to  send  me  back 
with  directions  that  Hooker  should  draw  his  com- 
mand into  Brown's  Ferry,  but  upon  reflection,  con- 
cluded to  leave  matters  as  they  were.  The  rela- 
tions between  these  generals  were  never  cordial  and 
the  affair  at  Wauhatchie  did  not  strengthen  them. 
Hooker  was  vain  and  patronizing  and  his  manners 
were  offensive  to  the  modest  Grant.  They  never 
became  close  friends,  but  as  soon  as  the  emergency 
which  brought  them  together  was  passed,  Grant 
cheerfully  enough  consented  to  Hooker  being  de- 
tached from  his  command. 

The  shorter  "cracker  line"  was  at  once  reopened, 
and  while  the  work  of  rebuilding  the  bridges  and  re- 
pairing the  railroad  was  going  on,  careful  attention 
was  given  to  the  fortification  of  the  passes  in  the 
ridges  covering  the  railroad  and  the  river,  so  that 
the  line  of  supplies  might  not  be  again  interfered 
with.  I  was  engaged  on  this  work  till  the  8th  of 
November.  All  the  passes  were  fortified  with  earth 
works.  Slashings  and  abattis  were  constructed  and 
every  known  device  resorted  to  to  make  the  country 
impassable  for  the  enemy.  Much  of  the  time  I  was 
on  foot,  because  the  country  was  too  rough  to  get 
over  it  with  horses.  Upon  one  occasion  I  went  from 
Shellmound  to  Bridgeport  in  a  pontoon,  and  upon 

279 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

another  walked  from  Whitesides  to  Brown's  Ferry. 
The  scenery  was  picturesque,  but  the  country  had 
been  cleared  of  its  forage  and  food,  and  there  was 
nothing  left  in  it  except  the  railroad  to  invite  or  en- 
courage the  enterprise  of  the  enemy. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  work  on  November 
3  that  Eawlins  gave  me  the  gratifying  informa- 
tion that  General  Grant  had  requested  my  promotion 
to  the  rank  of  brigadier  general  and  said  he 
had  no  doubt  that  it  would  be  made.  The  compli- 
ment was  all  the  greater  because  the  next  day  Grant 
recommended  that  a  distinguished  engineer  officer 
serving  with  that  army  as  a  brigadier  general  should 
be  transferred  to  duty  on  sea  coast  fortifications, 
and  in  reply  the  Secretary  of  War  requested  that  he 
be  mustered  out.  By  common  consent  this  was  re- 
garded as  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  and  had  it 
been  followed  by  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  principle 
that  all  general  officers  who  had  shown  themselves 
incompetent  and  unfit  for  their  position  should  be 
mustered  out,  the  situation  would  have  been  greatly 
improved,  not  only  in  that  but  in  other  armies. 

While  waiting  for  the  completion  of  the  road  and 
the  arrival  of  Sherman's  army  from  Memphis,  we 
had  a  period  of  rest  at  Chattanooga,  and  during 
the  evenings  it  was  customary  for  the  generals  to 
gather  at  our  headquarters.  Upon  one  of  these  oc- 
casions Thomas,  Granger,  Wood,  Brannan,  Smith, 
and  several  older  regulars  were  gathered  about  the 
fire  in  Grant's  sitting  room,  all  official  cares  thrown 
aside  and  all  formality  discarded.  While  cracking 
jokes  and  telling  stories  of  cadet  and  army  life,  it 
was  pleasant  to  hear  them  calling  each  other  by 
their  nicknames.     Even   Thomas  unbent  and  told 

280 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

his  reminiscences  with  wit  and  good  feeling.  Both 
Grant  and  he,  though  noted  for  their  capacity  "to 
keep  silent  in  seven  languages' '  were  interesting  if 
not  brilliant  conversationalists  upon  such  occasions. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  both  were  entirely  free 
from  the  use  of  profane  or  smutty  language. 

Having  finished  the  work  in  connection  with  for- 
tifying and  making  good  our  hold  on  the  railroad  to 
the  rear,  I  was  sent  by  horse-back  overland  to  Knox- 
ville  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  orders  to  and  con- 
ferring with  Burnside.  He  was  an  officer  of  mag- 
nificent appearance  and  correct  demeanor,  but  none 
of  his  superiors  had  much  confidence  in  his  ability 
or  judgment.  It  was  hoped,  however,  that  he  could 
hold  not  only  east  Tennessee  against  Longstreet, 
but  with  him  disposed  of,  could  move  down  the  valley 
in  such  manner  as  to  cooperate  in  the  final  struggle 
for  the  possession  of  upper  Georgia.  Grant  asked 
Dana  as  "the  eyes  of  the  Government' P  repre- 
senting the  War  Department  to  go  with  me,  and  we 
left  Chattanooga  at  half  past  two  on  the  9th,  es- 
corted by  fifteen  cavalrymen  under  the  command  of 
a  Captain  Field.  Our  route  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river  lay  through  Dallas,  Washington,  and  Kingston. 
We  camped  the  first  night  with  an  outlying  infantry 
detachment  where  we  received  a  hearty  welcome. 
The  weather  was  cold  and  the  wind  high,  but  a  blaz- 
ing fire  of  logs  in  front  of  our  tent  tempered  the 
winds  and  enabled  us  to  pass  the  night  in  compara- 
tive comfort.  We  spread  our  blankets  on  some  short 
boards  which  the  Colonel  (Smith  by  name)  kindly 
provided,  to  keep  us  from  the  cold  ground,  and  I 
slept  well,  but  Dana  complained  that  I  had  taken  an 
unfair  advantage  by  laying  my  boards  lengthwise 

281 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

while  he  placed  his  crosswise  and  thus  hurt  his  sides 
badly. 

The  next  day  we  passed  through  the  camps  of 
one  General  Spears,  an  ignorant,  loyal  Tennesseean, 
an  ardent  Union  man,  but  an  exceedingly  poor  sol- 
dier, whose  methods  of  command  and  administration 
were  peculiar.  He  permitted  his  men  to  go  home 
when  they  pleased,  stay  as  long  as  they  thought  best 
and  come  back  when  they  were  ready.  It  was  this 
officer  of  whom  the  following  story  is  told.  Having 
a  section  of  artillery  under  a  sergeant  in  his  com- 
mand and  feeling  somewhat  uneasy  as  to  the  enemy's 
movements,  he  one  day  wrote  as  follows : 

Sergeant  Brown, 

Commanding  Section  of  Artillery. 
Dear  Sir: 

Immediately  on  receipt  of  this  order,  you  will  take  your 
guns  down  to  the  river,  load  'em  up,  fire  'em  off,  swab  'em 
out  and  report  the  result.      Yours  truly, 

B.  G.  Spears. 

In  this  case  B.  G.  stood  for  brigadier  general. 
In  reply  the  sergeant  wrote  as  follows : 

Camp  on  the  Tennessee  Biver, 
B.  G.  Spears,  Comdg. 
Dear  Sir: 

In  obedience  to  your  order,  I  have  taken  my  guns  down 
to  the  river,  loaded  'em  up,  fired  'em  off,  swabbed  'em 
out  and  now  have  to  report  the  result — nothing  in  par- 
ticular. Yours  truly, 

S.  Brown. 

S.  in  this  case  meant  sergeant. 
It  was  well  understood  in  all  that  region  that 
B.  G.  Spears  received  his  appointment  through  the 

282 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

influence  of  Andrew  Johnson  for  loyalty  and  not 
on  account  of  his  military  accomplishments  or 
merits. 

At  the  end  of  a  long  march  the  next  day  we 
reached  the  camp  of  General  Jefferson  C.  Davis, 
commanding  a  division  and  district  north  of  the 
river,  and  spent  the  night  comfortably  with  him. 
Pushing  on  at  an  early  hour  next  morning  toward 
Lenoir  Station,  we  found  Lieutenant  Colonel  Bab- 
cock,  chief  engineer  of  the  Ninth  Corps,  who  had 
been  with  us  at  Vicksburg  and  who  had  just  fin- 
ished a  bridge  across  the  Holston.  In  doing  this 
work  he  had  reconstructed  a  saw  mill,  cut  the  lum- 
ber, built  the  pontoons,  spun  the  yarn,  twisted  the 
rope,  made  the  pitch,  forged  the  anchors,  and  com- 
pleted all  the  work  in  exactly  seven  days.  He  gave 
us  an  excellent  dinner  and  sent  us  on  that  night  by 
train  to  Knoxville,  where  we  arrived  at  half  past 
nine.  We  delivered  Grant's  orders,  received  a 
hearty  welcome,  and  the  next  day  had  a  full  discus- 
sion with  Burnside  and  Parke  in  reference  to  the 
situation  and  the  probable  course  of  events  in  East 
Tennessee. 

We  found  Burnside  exceedingly  anxious  to  cross 
to  the  south  side  of  the  Holston,  claiming  that  he 
could  support  his  army  in  that  region  for  six  or 
eight  weeks,  although  he  admitted  if  he  did  so  that 
he  might  not  be  able  to  thwart  the  enemy's  move- 
ments or  prevent  his  going  into  Knoxville,  which 
the  President,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  General 
Grant  concurred  in  regarding  as  the  key  point  of 
all  that  region.  Burnside  seemed  to  have  a  clear 
enough  idea  of  the  relative  strength  of  the  opposing 
forces,  the  strategic  and  political  considerations  in- 

283 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

volved  in  the  campaign,  and  of  the  absolute  neces- 
sity of  holding  Knoxville  to  the  last,  but  when 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  means  by  which  his 
instructions  were  to  be  carried  out,  his  mind  and 
judgment  seemed  utterly  lost.  Instead  of  drawing 
the  conclusions  that  were  inevitable  upon  the  facts 
as  they  existed,  he  persistently  turned  to  his  project 
of  crossing  into  the  country  southeast  of  the  Hols- 
ton  by  Babcock's  beautiful  new  bridge,  as  the  best 
course  he  could  possibly  adopt.  When  confronted 
with  the  statement  that  this  would  not  only  leave 
the  road  open  but  cost  him  Knoxville,  if  not  the  de- 
struction of  his  army,  and  that  it  was  no  part  of 
Grants  plan  to  permit  such  a  sacrifice  as  this,  he 
consented  to  adopt  the  policy  which  Dana  and  I  laid 
down  for  him.  This  simply  contemplated  a  sturdy 
resistance  step  by  step  to  the  northward  march  of 
Longstreet  who  was  now  known  to  have  been  de- 
tached from  Bragg's  army  and  to  be  on  the  way  to 
Knoxville.  Finally  if  driven  out  of  Knoxville  we 
instructed  Burnside  to  fall  back  towards  Cumber- 
land Gap  by  the  best  road  to  ensure  the  safety  of  his 
army. 

The  object  of  these  orders  as  explained  time  and 
time  again  was  to  hold  our  own  advantages  and  keep 
Longstreet 's  corps  in  east  Tennessee  till  after  a 
vital  blow  should  be  struck  at  the  rebels  in  front  of 
Chattanooga.  The  fact  was  emphasized  that  Bragg 
had  weakened  himself  so  greatly  by  the  detachment 
of  this  splendid  body  of  veterans  that  he  would 
surely  be  defeated  by  Grant  as  soon  as  arrange- 
ments could  be  made  to  attack  him.  The  tiresome 
discussion  continued  till  midnight  and  was  only 
closed  after  all  points  were  settled  arid  fully  com- 

284 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

municated  to  General  Grant  and  to  the  War  De- 
partment. Even  then,  however,  Burnside  declared 
that  his  own  judgment  favored  a  different  policy 
and  that  he  had  yielded  only  because  he  believed 
General  Grant  would  approve  our  views  rather  than 
his  own. 

Finally  I  was  called  back  to  headquarters  at 
three  o'clock  by  Burnside,  saying  that  the  enemy 
had  already  crossed  at  Hoff's  Ferry  and  was  ad- 
vancing on  Knoxville.  As  soon  as  I  reported,  the 
General  went  over  the  whole  ground  again  spending 
the  rest  of  the  night  in  discussing  the  details  of  the 
policy  already  decided  upon  and  in  sending  orders 
to  carry  it  into  effect.  But  in  spite  of  both  orders 
and  argument,  he  still  favored  the  plan  of  throwing 
himself  south  of  the  Holston  and  leaving  the  more 
important  country  behind  him  open  to  Longstreet. 
I  again  pointed  out  how  completely  this  would  de- 
feat the  purpose  of  General  Grant,  and  insisted  that 
he  should  march  out  and  fight  the  enemy  at  what- 
ever cost.  At  nine  o'clock  he  and  his  staff,  accom- 
panied by  us,  started  by  rail  to  Lenoir  Station.  We 
reached  there  in  two  hours  and  found  the  corps 
moving  to  the  front  for  the  purpose  of  verifying  the 
enemy's  advance.  Fortunately  Babcock  had  already 
destroyed  his  new  bridge,  thus  making  it  absolutely 
necessary  for  Burnside  to  confront  Longstreet  and 
delay  his  march  to  Knoxville.  A  sharp  skirmish 
had  already  begun,  which  Bowen  and  Babcock,  the 
brains  of  Burnside 's  staff,  afterward  somewhat  de- 
risively designated  as  "The  Battle  of  Hackberry's 
Bend." 

The  principal  result  was  to  compel  the  enemy  to 
move  with  caution.     Incidentally  it  enabled  Dana 

285 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

and  me  to  pass  around  the  head  of  Longstreet's  col- 
umns and  take  up  our  return  journey  to  Chatta- 
nooga. Our  horses  having  had  a  good  rest  and  fair 
feeding,  we  turned  their  heads  across  country  to- 
wards Kingston,  escorted  by  a  detachment  of  forty 
cavalry,  and  after  a  rapid  ride  arrived  there  at 
nightfall.  We  could  not  have  delayed  another  hour 
nor  ridden  less  rapidly,  for  had  we  done  either  we 
should  certainly  have  been  captured.  As  it  was  we 
passed  the  road  on  which  Longstreet  was  marching 
only  a  short  while  before  his  advance  reached  the 
crossing.  We  were  reported  at  Washington  as  hav- 
ing been  taken  prisoners.  We  found  the  country 
in  a  state  of  consternation,  the  loyal  east  Tennessee 
farmers  fearing  that  they  would  lose  what  little 
provisions  they  had  left  and  that  the  presence  of 
the  rebel  army  would  place  them  again  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Confederate  authorities. 

Passing  through  the  camp  of  "B.  G."  Spears  on 
Sale  Creek,  we  found  him  also  greatly  excited,  but 
the  rebel  route  lying  east  of  him,  he  suffered  in  mind 
rather  than  in  body.  The  Honorable  Horace  May- 
nard,  a  loyal  and  distinguished  citizen  of  Tennessee, 
born  in  Massachusetts,  accompanied  us  both  ways 
on  our  ride  and  came  back  with  us  to  Chattanooga 
where  we  received  a  hearty  welcome.  General  Grant 
had  hoped  that  we  would  remain  at  Knoxville,  first, 
because  he  had  no  confidence  in  the  fight  Burnside 
would  put  up  without  us,  and  next,  because  he 
feared  we  should  be  captured  in  trying  to  return. 
Indeed,  he  had  already  heard  that  this  fate  had  be- 
fallen us. 

This  ride  of  something  over  three  hundred  miles 
to  Knoxville  and  back  through  loyal  east  Tennessee 

286 


THE    CHATTANOOGA    CAMPAIGN 

was  just  dangerous  enough  to  make  it  romantic.  It 
showed  us  the  loyal  "po'  white  man"' of  the  South 
in  his  native  hue.  Plain,  simple-minded,  and  sen- 
sible without  sham  or  pretension;  loving  the  Union 
because  he  had  been  taught  to  love  it;  hating  the 
slaveholders '  rebellion  and  caring  nothing  for  "his 
rights  in  the  territories"  because  he  had  no  slaves; 
staying  at  home  when  he  could  and  taking  no  part 
in  the  struggle  unless  he  must,  because  he  realized 
from  the  first  that  it  was  "the  rich  man's  war  and 
the  poor  man's  fight."  This  was  the  sum  of  his  po- 
litical philosophy,  and  when  we  look  back  upon  it, 
the  only  wonder  is  that  we  did  not  realize  it  as  hej 
did.  A  political  writer  has  since  pointed  out  that 
only  six  and  a  half  per  cent  of  the  Southern  people 
had  any  property  interest  in  slavery  when  the  Re- 
bellion broke  out,  while  ninety-three  and  a  half  per 
cent  were  naturally  and  economically  interested  on 
the  other  side.  Another  writer  has  shown  beyond 
reasonable  doubt  that  this  interesting  fact  was  the 
underlying  cause  of  the  final  depletion  and  disin- 
tegration of  the  rebel  armies.  The  commissioned 
officers,  largely  drawn  from  the  slaveholding  class 
and  those  who  sympathized  with  it,  naturally  re- 
mained with  the  colors,  while  the  rank  and  file, 
drawn  from  the  common  people  holding  no  slaves, 
just  as  naturally  began  to  desert  as  soon  as  they 
discovered  that  they  had  to  do  all  the  fighting  and 
had  no  real  interest  in  the  outcome. 

This  fact  also  accounts  for  the  rapid  recovery  of 
the  cotton-growing  interest  after  the  war  ended. 
That  part  of  the  Southern  population  holding  no 
slaves  and  possessing  little  or  no  land,  when  peace 
came,  were  nearly  as  well  off  as  they  were  before 

287 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

the  war  commenced.  They  had  been  the  principal 
producers  of  Southern  staples  before  the  war  and 
naturally  became  the  principal  producers  as  soon  as 
it  was  over.  The  land  was  all  there  and  much  of  it 
fallow.  The  horses,  mules,  and  agricultural  imple- 
ments were  but  little  diminished,  and  so  when  the 
fighting  and  the  conscripting  ended,  it  was  compara- 
tively easy  for  the  "po*  white  man"  and  the  negroes 
at  least  to  begin  growing  cotton  again  largely  as  be- 
fore on  rented  land,  and  this  is  what  they  did. 

The  ex-slaveholders  found  it  harder  to  get  down 
to  work  and  naturally  enough  turned  to  politics.  It 
was  this  class  that  wanted  to  hold  public  meetings, 
pass  resolutions  and  give  their  views  about  recon- 
struction, and  it  was  to  one  of  this  class  that  Sena- 
tor Hoar  said,  a  year  later,  that  if  he  and  his  friends 
would  go  home  and  "  raise  more  cotton  and  less 
hell,,,  they  would  probably  find  that  reconstruction 
in  the  end  would  take  care  of  itself. 


288 


XI 

MISSIONARY    RIDGE 

Brigadier  and  inspector  general — Sherman  arrives — Plan  of 
battle — Details  of  movements — Claims  of  Grant  and 
Sherman — Thomas  carries  Ridge — Granger  and  Sher- 
man sent  to  Knoxville — Bridging  the  rivers — Major 
Hoffman — Longstreet  rejoins  Lee — Grant  goes  to 
Knoxville — Cumberland  Gap — Lexington — Establishes 
winter  headquarters  at  Nashville. 

On  returning  to  Chattanooga,  November  17,  I 
found  my  commission  as  brigadier  general  and  the 
usual  oath  was  administered  by  General  Grant,  but 
as  we  were  still  confronting  Bragg,  making  ready  for 
a  decisive  battle,  I  continued  to  act  as  inspector  gen- 
eral of  the  military  division  without  any  new  as- 
signment. But  as  there  was  neither  necessity  nor 
time  for  inspections,  I  lent  a  hand,  as  had  always 
been  my  practice,  wherever  I  saw  a  chance  for 
service.  I  was  still  the  only  active  regular  officer 
on  Grant's  staff,  and  being  an  engineer  besides  I 
found  plenty  to  do,  carrying  orders  and  assisting 
Baldy  Smith  in  reconnoitering  the  country  for  a 
suitable  crossing  of  the  Tennessee  for  Sherman's 
turning  movement  against  the  enemy's  right  flank 
and  rear. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Sherman  marched 
289 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

from  his  camp  on  Black  Eiver  into  Vicksburg  whence 
he  took  steamboats  to  Memphis.  From  there  he  was 
transferred  to  Corinth  by  rail  with  instructions  to 
march  eastward  along  the  railroad,  rebuilding  it  as 
he  went.  In  this  way  it  took  just  two  months  to 
transfer  his  army  corps  of  four  divisions  from  the 
Big  Black  to  Chattanooga,  while  it  took  the  War 
Department  less  than  two  weeks  to  transfer  two 
army  corps  from  Virginia  to  the  same  destination. 

Great  credit  has  always  been  accorded  Sherman 
for  the  rapidity  of  his  transfer,  and  he  doubtless  did 
his  part  well  enough,  but  in  view  of  the  perilous  po- 
sition of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  at  Chatta- 
nooga, it  must  be  confessed  that  it  was  a  great  mis- 
take to  select  that  route  when  another  and  a  far  bet- 
ter one  was  open,  namely,  that  by  steamboat  to 
Cairo  and  by  rail  from  Cairo  to  Louisville,  Nash- 
ville, and  Bridgeport.  It  was  contended  at  the  time, 
however,  that  it  would  be  impracticable  to  transport 
and  supply  the  army  by  the  single  line  of  railroad 
from  the  Ohio  River,  but  when  it  is  remembered 
that  a  few  months  later  it  was  the  sole  dependence 
of  a  very  much  larger  army,  while  the  line  Sherman 
was  rebuilding,  skirting  the  northern  border  of  the 
Confederacy,  was  constantly  exposed  to  raids  and 
interruption  and  was  not  and  could  not  be  used  to 
any  extent  as  a  supply  line,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
time  occupied  in  its  repair  was  time  wasted  and  that 
Sherman  going  by  the  other  route  should  have  been 
on  the  ground  he  finally  occupied  a  month  to  six 
weeks  earlier  than  he  was.  The  railroad  could  have 
been  repaired  later  as  it  was. 

But  even  after  Sherman  reached  Bridgeport,  he 
was  unnecessarily  slow  in  marching  to  Chattanooga. 

290 


MISSIONARY    RIDGE 

Before  getting  within  reach  of  the  enemy  his  col- 
umns were  naturally  enough  badly  strung  out.  He 
was  encumbered  by  heavy  wagon  trains,  and  now 
that  rainy  weather  had  begun  to  make  the  roads 
muddy — and  there  were  but  few  in  the  country, 
none  parallel — this  faulty  marching  order  could 
hardly  be  helped  as  a  general  arrangement,  but  it 
might  have  been  easily  remedied  for  the  last  day  by 
leaving  the  wagons  in  Lookout  Valley  to  follow  at 
leisure  while  the  troops  pushed  to  the  front  without 
them.  As  this  was  not  done,  Sherman  lost  at  least 
two  days  more  in  getting  into  position.  To  make 
matters  still  worse  the  pontoon  bridge  at  Brown's 
Ferry  broke  while  he  was  crossing  the  river  and 
thus  cut  off  his  last  division  entirely.  As  everybody 
else  had  already  reached  the  place  assigned  him, 
within  striking  distance  of  the  enemy,  Sherman's 
delays  gave  Grant  great  annoyance  at  the  time,  and 
had  they  not  been  warm  friends  might  have  led  to 
sharp  criticism  and  censure.  This  surely  would 
have  been  the  case  had  the  operations,  which  were 
to  follow,  ended  in  failure  and  disappointment.  But 
success  wipes  out  or  greatly  minimizes  individual 
shortcomings  and,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter,  this 
was  the  result  in  Sherman's  case. 

During  my  absence  at  Knoxville  all  the  details 
for  the  forthcoming  battle  had  been  finally  arranged 
mainly  by  Generals  Smith  and  Thomas  under 
Grant's  personal  supervision.  The  situation  was  a 
complicated  one.  The  beleaguered  army,  reenforced 
from  many  directions,  now  greatly  outnumbered 
Bragg 's  which  had  been  fatally  weakened,  first,  by 
the  detachment  of  Longstreet's  corps,  and  afterward 
by  that  of  Buckner's  division.    Our  center  occupied 

291 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Chattanooga  south  of  the  Tennessee  at  the  entrance 
of  a  valley  about  three  miles  wide,  with  Lookout 
Mountain  on  one  side  and  Missionary  Ridge  on  the 
other,  but  this  place  had  now  become  an  inexpug- 
nable camp  surrounded  by  well-constructed  fortifi- 
cations. It  was  at  last  amply  supplied  from  the  rear 
by  rail  and  wagon  road,  and,  although  the  enemy 
still  had  an  outlying  detachment  on  Lookout,  it  was 
too  far  from  his  main  body  on  Missionary  Ridge  to 
be  a  serious  menace  to  Grant's  communications  or 
combinations. 

Bragg 's  position  was  essentially  a  weak  one.  His 
main  line  held  Missionary  Ridge  about  two  hundred 
feet  high,  fortified  by  rifle  trenches  at  top  and  bot- 
tom and  regarded  as  secure  against  direct  attack. 
It  covered  both  the  wagon  and  railroads  to  the  in- 
terior of  Georgia.  Its  right  rested  at  the  railroad 
tunnel  near  the  end  of  Missionary  Ridge;  its  left, 
held  by  an  outlying  detachment,  was  near  Rossville, 
and  the  whole  was  about  five  miles  long  with  but 
little  more  than  forty  thousand  men  to  defend  it. 

Grant  had  within  reach  nearly  twice  as  many 
men  much  better  equipped  and  better  supplied  in 
every  respect.  His  plan,  stripped  of  all  unnecessary 
verbiage,  was  that  Sherman  should  cross  from  the 
north  to  the  south  side  of  the  Tennessee  just  below 
the  mouth  of  Chickamauga  Creek  by  a  pontoon 
bridge,  the  boats  and  materials  for  which  Smith  had 
concealed  in  the  North  Chickamauga,  and  after  mak- 
ing good  his  footing,  Sherman  should  drive  back 
or  turn  the  enemy's  right,  resting  near  the  end  of 
Missionary  Ridge.  Howard  was  to  advance  from 
Chattanooga,  form  a  junction  with  Sherman  on  the 
south  side  of  the  river,   and  thus   strengthen  his 

292 


MISSIONARY    RIDGE 

movement,  while  Thomas  was  to  advance  to  Or- 
chard Knoll  and  cooperate  from  there  as  occasion 
might  require. 

Preliminary  to  all  this  Hooker  was  to  force  his 
way  around  the  point  of  Lookout  Mountain,  followed 
by  Osterhaus,  who  had  been  cut  off  from  Sherman, 
and  thus  put  their  combined  forces  in  position  to 
move  by  the  shortest  line  up  the  Chattanooga  Val- 
ley against  the  enemy's  extreme  left  near  Eoss- 
ville.  This  was  the  movement  that  gave  rise  to  the 
so-called  "Battle  above  the  Clouds"  as  described 
by  Quartermaster  General  Meigs,  who  was  at  that 
time  exiled  from  Washington  and  was  visiting  at 
Grant's  headquarters.  He  had  never  seen  a  battle, 
and  it  so  happened  that  this  one,  which  was  merely 
a  sharp  skirmish  on  the  nose  of  the  mountain  be- 
tween the  rebel  detachment  and  Hooker's  advance, 
did  not  end  till  after  dark.  Seen  from  Grant's 
headquarters,  below  and  about  two  miles  away,  the 
flashing  of  small  arms  looked  like  fireflies  above  a 
small  bank  of  mist  that  rested  against  the  mountain 
side,  nowhere  more  than  fifteen  hundred  feet  high. 
It  was  picturesque  enough  while  it  lasted,  but  as  the 
rebel  detachment  on  Lookout  made  but  feeble  re- 
sistance and  got  out  rapidly  as  soon  as  it  found  that 
the  force  coming  against  it  was  really  a  formidable 
one,  the  affair  was  altogether  insignificant  and  soon 
ended.  During  the  night  the  rebel  force  made  its 
way  around  to  Missionary  Eidge,  where  it  had  a 
much  more  serious  time  the  next  day.  So  far  as  the 
records  show,  there  were  at  no  time  more  than  two 
thousand  men,  counting  both  sides,  engaged  in  this 
much-exaggerated  and  misnamed  "Battle  above  the 
Clouds."    It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  Hooker 

293 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

in  his  official  report,  written  after  the  campaign 
ended,  did  not  hesitate  to  claim  for  his  various  op- 
erations a  larger  number  of  prisoners  than  were 
captured  by  the  entire  army  at  the  battle  of  Mis- 
sionary Eidge,  and  that  in  forwarding  this  report 
General  Grant  endorsed  it  to  the  following  effect: 
"The  number  of  prisoners  claimed  to  have  been 
captured  by  General  Hooker,  it  will  be  observed, 
is  in  excess  of  the  number  actually  captured  by  the 
entire  army."  This  cold  and  somewhat  unusual 
endorsement  shows  quite  as  plainly  as  a  more  direct 
statement  that  there  was  no  love  lost  between  the 
distinguished  generals  concerned  in  it. 

The  bridge  for  Sherman's  movement  was  laid 
with  the  regularity  of  clockwork  by  Smith  and  his 
assistants  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  all  con- 
cerned. But  to  shorten  and  insure  a  safe  passage 
for  the  entire  force  I  was  put  in  charge  of  the  com- 
modious side-wheel  steamboat  Dunbar,  and  its 
barges,  and  not  only  ferried  the  advance,  but  seven 
thousand  men  besides  across  the  river  between  eight 
o  'clock  and  noon,  landing  each  regiment  at  the  very 
spot  most  advantageous  to  its  immediate  advance. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  passage  of  the  river, 
which  was  about  half  a  mile  wide,  was  made  with 
unusual  rapidity  and  perfect  safety.  Not  a  shot 
was  fired  except  at  the  Dunbar  on  her  way  from 
Chattanooga  to  the  crossing,  and  not  an  animal  nor 
a  man  lost  his  life  in  the  operation.  Although  it 
might  have  been  timed  for  an  earlier  hour,  it  was  a 
complete  surprise  and  a  complete  success,  all  the 
details  of  which  from  first  to  last  were  carried  out 
entirely  independent  of  Sherman  and  in  such  man- 
ner as  to  command  his  heartiest  praise.    With  his 

294 


MISSIONARY    RIDGE 

three  divisions,  of  not  less  than  fifteen  thousand 
men,  safely  landed  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river, 
there  was  nothing  left  for  him  to  do  but  to  move 
against  the  enemy.  The  country  was  entirely  open, 
and,  while  the  ground  was  high  and  rolling,  the  way 
both  to  the  enemy's  flank  and  rear  was  straight  out 
from  the  river.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  fa- 
vorable to  a  direct  attack  or  to  a  turning  movement 
against  the  enemy's  right  flank  and  rear,  but  from 
the  first  to  the  close  of  the  next  day  Sherman's 
movements  were  slow  and  ineffective.  Instead  of 
pushing  resolutely  to  the  attack  he  lost  several  hours 
in  digging  rifle  pits  to  cover  the  bridge,  and  when 
he  finally  advanced,  found  the  enemy  fully  ready 
and  able  to  resist  him.  Having  discovered  the  peril 
he  was  in,  Bragg  made  haste  that  afternoon  to 
strengthen  his  extreme  right  by  bringing  troops 
from  other  parts  of  his  line.  So  prompt  and  vigor- 
ous was  his  action  that  he  made  good  his  position 
and  repelled  every  attack  not  only  that  day  but  the 
next.  Sherman's  men  fought  bravely  enough,  but 
their  efforts  were  disjointed,  desultory,  and  abortive, 
while  those  of  the  enemy  were  coherent  and  effec- 
tive. 

The  fact  is  that  halting  to  fortify  had  cost  the 
Federal  commander  all  the  advantages  of  a  surprise 
and  had  reduced  his  operations  from  a  successful 
turning  movement  to  a  direct  attack  of  entrench- 
ments, which  from  Chickasaw  Bayou  to  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg  had  for  him  generally  been  a  failure. 
Why,  as  soon  as  he  found  out  what  he  was  up 
against,  he  did  not  throw  himself  around  the  enemy 's 
flank,  against  his  communications  and  rear  has  never 
been  satisfactorily  explained.     It  may  be  claimed 

295 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

that  he  had  not  been  ordered  to  do  so,  but  the  sim- 
ple fact  is  that  Sherman,  with  all  his  brilliancy,  was 
not  the  man  for  such  bold  and  conclusive  operations. 
He  had  not  even  reached  the  tunnel,  and  never  did, 
but  even  with  this  failure  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
so  long  as  he  held  his  menacing  position  on  the  end 
of  the  ridge,  enveloping  the  enemy's  flank,  the  latter 
could  not  regard  his  entrenchments  as  tenable 
and  would  feel  compelled  to  abandon  them  as 
soon  as  our  forces  in  his  front  were  put  in  mo- 
tion. And  this  is  exactly  what  occurred  the  next 
afternoon. 

The  preliminary  operations  merely  resulted  in 
bringing  the  opposing  armies  face  to  face  with  each 
other ;  Bragg  was  on  the  top  of  the  Ridge  with  Sher- 
man enveloping  and  outflanking  his  right  and  Hooker 
moving  against  his  left,  while  Howard  and  Thomas, 
with  overwhelming  numbers,  occupied  the  valley  in 
front  of  him,  all  in  continuous  line  or  within  easy 
supporting  distance  of  each  other. 

This  much  accomplished  or  rendered  certain, 
Grant's  orders  contemplated  a  simultaneous  ad- 
vance against  the  enemy  at  dawn  the  second  day, 
but  Sherman  started  late  as  usual  and  was  soon  re- 
pulsed. He  renewed  his  attack  unaided  and  was 
again  repulsed,  after  which  he  stood  practically  idle 
till  nightfall.  Howard  at  first  did  nothing.  Thomas, 
seeing  but  little  to  encourage  him,  stood  silent  and 
watchful.  Granger,  commanding  the  Fourth  Corps 
of  Thomas'  army,  neither  received  nor  gave  orders 
for  an  advance,  but  remained  on  Orchard  Knoll  di- 
recting the  fire  of  a  battery  and  thus  worked  himself 
into  a  terrible  state  of  excitement.  Howard  finally 
moved  to  the  left  across  Citico  Creek  to  Sherman's 

296 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

support.  Hooker  was  delayed  in  his  advance  to 
Eossville  by  the  necessity  of  rebuilding  the  bridge 
across  Chattanooga  Creek,  which  had  been  burned 
by  the  enemy  as  he  fell  back  from  Lookout  Moun- 
tain. Thus  the  morning  passed  without  decisive  re- 
sults. Grant,  noting  with  some  impatience  that  the 
enemy  still  held  his  position  in  front,  modestly  asked 
Thomas  if  he  didn't  think  he  should  make  a  demon- 
stration in  Sherman's  favor,  but  Thomas,  evidently 
seeing  no  opening  and  not  regarding  the  question  as 
an  order,  stood  unresponsive  and  silent. 

Having  seen  Sherman's  column  safely  across  the 
Tennessee  the  day  before,  I  returned  to  headquar- 
ters and,  after  an  anxious  night,  accompanied  Gen- 
eral Grant  and  the  rest  of  his  staff  to  Orchard  Knoll, 
from  which  the  whole  field  was  plainly  within  sight. 
At  first  everybody  semed  hopeful,  but  as  the  day 
wore  on  toward  noon  and  afternoon,  with  nothing 
done,  the  situation  became  exceedingly  embarrass- 
ing. Eawlins,  always  an  anxious  and  questioning 
observer,  grew  sullen  and  finally  indignant,  first  at 
Granger  and  next  at  Thomas  himself.  Baldy  Smith, 
Rawlins,  and  I  formed  a  group  of  our  own,  exchang- 
ing opinions  freely  and  frequently  on  every  point 
worthy  of  notice.  Grant  himself  seemed  anxious 
but  undecided  and  gave*no  positive  orders,  but  as 
time  continued  to  drag  with  nothing  done  Rawlins 
finally,  at  my  suggestion,  urged  Grant  to  silence 
Granger  and  give  Thomas  positive  orders  for  a  gen- 
eral advance  by  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  to 
begin  at  the  firing  of  six  guns  at  regular  intervals 
from  the  battery  on  Orchard  Knoll.  All  thought  at 
the  time  that  the  enemy  was  moving  troops  con- 
stantly from  his  left  and  center  toward  his  right, 

297 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

where  Sherman  was  believed  to  be  pressing  him. 
Every  officer  on  Orchard  Knoll  was  sure  he  could 
see  such  a  movement  actually  in  progress,  and  it 
was  a  strong  conviction  to  that  effect  which  at  last 
caused  Grant  to  order  Granger  to  rejoin  his  corps 
and  then  to  turn  with  equal  firmness  to  Thomas  and 
direct  him  to  advance  his  whole  line  against  the  rifle 
trench  at  the  foot  of  the  Eidge  in  front.  Thomas, 
recognizing  at  once  the  difference  between  a  sug- 
gestion and  a  positive  order,  sent  his  aids-de-camp 
to  the  various  division  commanders  with  orders  to 
move  at  the  appointed  signal  against  the  enemy.  The 
final  movement  was  begun  without  the  slightest  help 
from  Sherman  on  the  left.  Cleburne,  commanding 
in  his  front,  had  fought  him  to  a  standstill  for  the 
rest  of  that  day.  Thomas  now  held  the  center  of 
the  field,  and  his  splendid  divisions  moved  out  with 
the  regularity  of  troops  on  parade.  Led  by  Sheri- 
dan, Baird,  Thomas  J.  Wood,  Brannan,  and  their 
brigade  commanders,  they  swept  across  the  first 
line  of  entrenchments  without  a  pause.  The  enemy, 
it  is  now  known,  amounted  to  fully  half  of  Bragg's 
forces  but,  for  a  reason  which  will  be  explained 
later,  after  one  round  gave  way  and,  starting  on  the 
retreat,  never  stopped  till  they  reached  their  main 
line.  The  Federal  divisions  scarcely  paused  after 
finding  themselves  in  possession  of  the  enemy's  first 
entrenchments,  but  pushed  on  as  it  were  under  their 
original  impulse  till  they  reached  and  swept  tri- 
umphantly over  the  top  of  the  Eidge.  The  enemy 
had  hastily  the  day  before  constructed  several  slight 
entrenchments  between  the  bottom  and  the  summit, 
but,  for  want  of  sufficient  entrenching  tools,  left  them 
unfinished.     It  is  also  claimed  that  the  entrench- 

298 


MISSIONARY    RIDGE 

ments  on  the  top  of  the  Ridge  were  placed  on  the 
highest  ground  without  much  regard  to  the  command 
of  the  slopes  up  which  the  attacking  force  would  be 
compelled  to  advance.  The  consequence  was  that 
no  adequate  defence  was  made  either  at  the  bottom 
or  at  the  top,  and  in  an  incredibly  short  time  the  en- 
tire position  was  abandoned  and  the  enemy >s  whole 
line  was  driven  in  confusion  from  the  field. 

Both  Grant  and  Sherman  to  the  day  of  their 
death  claimed  that  their  success  on  that  occasion 
was  due  principally  to  the  fact  that  Bragg  had  all 
day  long  been  strengthening  his  right  at  the  expense 
of  his  center  and  left,  but  this  is  now  known  to  have 
been  an  error,  for,  according  to  all  Confederate  re- 
ports both  written  and  verbal,  whatever  was  done  in 
that  direction  was  done  on  the  day  and  night  before, 
while  on  the  second  and  final  day  of  the  battle  no 
troops  whatever  were  moved  to  the  right  of  the 
enemy 's  line.  A  better  explanation  of  the  enemy's 
weakness  is  that  on  the  night  of  the  24th  and  the 
morning  of  the  25th  one  half  of  each  Confederate 
brigade  was  holding  the  foot  of  the  hill,  while  the 
other  half  held  the  line  at  the  top.  This  disposition 
extended  to  all  the  troops  on  the  Ridge  and  the  num- 
ber available  gave  only  a  single  rank  for  the  final 
stand  with  the  men  about  a  yard  apart.  It  is  also 
alleged  that  the  superior  officers  were  instructed,  if 
attacked  by  more  than  a  single  line,  to  await  the 
enemy's  approach  till  within  two  hundred  yards, 
then  to  deliver  their  fire  and  retire  to  the  works 
above.1  At  all  events  this  is  exactly  what  they  did, 
and  manifestly  it  was  a  fatal  mistake. 

1 ■ '  Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate, 9 '  by  General  E.  P.  Alesan- 
der,  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  1907,  p.  475  et  seq. 

299 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Many  errors  have  crept  into  the  accounts  of  this 
battle,  the  most  persistent  of  which  is  that  Grant 
ordered  his  troops  to  halt  at  the  first  line  of  en- 
trenchments. No  such  orders  were  given  by  him  or 
by  any  one  else  in  authority.  The  simple  fact  is  that 
no  one  either  high  or  low  thought  for  a  moment  that 
it  was  feasible  to  go  further  than  the  first  line,  and 
when  the  troops  were  seen  to  be  moving,  of  their 
own  accord,  beyond  the  captured  first  line  of  rifle 
trench  up  the  hillside  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  it  was 
supposed  that  they  would  be  repulsed  before  they 
could  reach  the  top  of  the  Eidge.  Every  observer 
thought  they  would  be  so  blown  and  disordered  by 
the  rough  and  exhausting  climb  that  they  would 
have  insufficient  strength  or  momentum  left  to  carry 
the  second  line  of  entrenchments.  Grant,  Eawlins, 
Smith,  Thomas,  and  all  the  rest  believed  that  it  was 
impossible  to  succeed  in  sweeping  over  the  line 
which  would  there  confront  them,  but  no  orders  were 
issued  by  Grant  or  any  one  else  at  any  time  to  halt 
the  advance.  Looking  on  with  much  interest  and 
seeing  that  our  people  were  not  repulsed  and  were 
fast  approaching  the  top,  I  suggested  to  General 
Grant  that  we  mount  and  proceed  to  the  front  our- 
selves with  the  view  of  encouraging  the  troops  and 
pressing  home  our  victory.  My  suggestion  was 
adopted  without  hesitation  and  in  less  than  thirty 
minutes  we  were  all  on  top  of  Missionary  Eidge, 
with  the  enemy  disappearing  down  its  eastern  slope. 
Near  the  summit  we  met  a  few  wounded  men  com- 
ing to  the  rear.  They  received  General  Grant  with 
exultation,  calling  out:  "We  are  now  even  with 
them  for  Chickamauga.  All  we  needed  was  a 
leader !" 

300 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

The  victory  was  quite  as  surprising  to  those  who 
won  it  as  to  those  who  lost  it.  Although  both 
Bragg 's  flanks  had  been  turned,  neither  Sherman's 
operations  on  the  left  nor  Hooker's  on  the  right  had 
their  proper  effect  in  bringing  it  about.  It  could 
easily  have  been  made  complete  had  Sherman  fully 
appreciated  his  position  and  moved  with  proper 
celerity  to  throw  himself  around  the  enemy's  left 
across  his  communications  before  the  break  took 
place.  With  activity  on  his  part  the  entire  rebel 
army  might  have  been  captured.  Hooker's  posi- 
tion and  movements  were  alarming,  but  in  no  case 
could  they  have  been  made  conclusive.  As  it 
was  nearly  night  when  the  final  rout  occurred  and 
Sherman  did  nothing  to  complete  it,  Bragg  suc- 
ceeded in  withdrawing  his  whole  army,  leaving  be- 
hind His  killed  and  wounded,  and  here  and  there  de- 
tachments which  were  captured,  amounting  in  all  to 
something  less  than  two  thousand  men. 

That  night  and  the  next  day  Bragg  retreated  to 
Einggold  and,  after  a  stand  of  but  little  importance 
at  that  place,  finally  withdrew  to  Dalton  on  the  road 
toward  Atlanta.  Having  saved  his  army  he  was 
soon  relieved  at  his  own  request  from  further  com- 
mand. His  casualties  were  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  killed,  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty 
wounded,  and  about  two  thousand  captured,  while 
Grant's  were  seven  hundred  and  fifty-three  killed, 
four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-two 
wounded.  For  the  numbers  engaged  these  figures 
are  surprisingly  small.1 

1Livermore  estimates  the  forces  engaged  as  follows:  Effective 
Federal  infantry  and  artillery,  56,359;  effective  Confederate  infantry 
and  artillery,  40,929. 

301 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

As  soon  as  the  decisive  results  were  fully  known 
Grant  detached  first  Granger  with  the  Fourth  Corps 
and  afterward  Sherman  and  Howard  with  their  re- 
spective forces  to  march  as  rapidly  as  possible  to 
Knoxville  for  the  relief  of  Burnside,  who  was  now 
calling  loudly  for  help,  and  whose  fears  it  was 
thought  might  induce  him  to  retreat  from  that  place 
if  not  to  surrender  it  and  its  garrison. 

During  the  first  night  after  the  battle  of  Mis- 
sionary Ridge  Grant  and  his  staff  followed  Sheri- 
dan's division  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  several  miles 
beyond  Chickamauga  Creek,  but  finding  that  our 
own  troops  were  badly  separated  on  the  various 
roads  the  enemy  had  taken,  the  General  concluded  to 
return  to  Chattanooga  for  the  night.  Knowing  that 
his  subordinate  commanders  would  communicate 
with  him,  he  thought  it  easier  for  them  to  find  him 
at  his  old  headquarters  than  at  any  new  ones  he 
might  establish.  He  had  already  sent  Colonel  La- 
gow,  one  of  his  aids-de-camp,  to  find  Thomas,  but  as 
Grant  recrossed  the  Chickamauga  he  met  that  officer 
returning  with  the  statement  that  he  could  find 
neither  Thomas  nor  his  command.  Thereupon  Grant 
said:  "  Wilson,  please  take  this  matter  in  hand  and 
report  to  me  at  your  earliest  convenience  in  Chat- 
tanooga. | '  I  set  out  at  once  through  the  forest  bor- 
dering the  creek,  and  after  a  ride  by  compass  two 
or  three  hours  through  the  forest  in  the  dark,  over 
logs  and  across  ravines,  I  ran  into  Baird's  division, 
and  finding  that  the  rest  of  the  corps  was  close  at 
hand  and  that  Thomas  had  fully  reported  his  dis- 
positions to  Grant  at  his  old  headquarters,  I  de- 
clined Baird's  urgent  offers  of  hospitality  and  made 
my  way  back  to  the  town  as  rapidly  as  my  tired 

302 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

horse  could  carry  me.  I  arrived  at  headquarters 
just  at  dawn,  and  as  I  ascended  the  steps  and  opened 
the  door  into  the  room  which  I  was  using  in  common 
with  General  Grant,  he  called  out:  "Is  that  you, 
Wilson?  I  am  glad  you  are  back.  Of  course,  I 
found  here  all  the  information  I  wanted  about  the 
troops,  and  have  not  slept  a  wink  this  whole  night, 
for  thinking  of  what  a  long,  cold,  and  unnecessary 
ride  I  have  given  you.,, 

It  was  this  sort  of  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the 
General  which  so  greatly  endeared  him  to  his  offi- 
cers. Without  being  effusive  he  was  altogether  the 
most  thoughtful  and  considerate  general  with  whom 
I  ever  served  in  regard  to  the  comfort  of  his  staff 
and  of  the  troops  under  his  command.  It  was  no 
part  of  his  practice  to  give  unnecessary  trouble  or 
to  impose  unnecessary  work  upon  any  one,  and  the 
results  were  always  beneficial  to  himself.  This  anx- 
iety to  minimize  the  hardship  of  others  arose  per- 
haps as  much  from  temperament  as  from  personal 
kindness.  Deliberate  and  careful  in  his  mental  op- 
erations, he  rarely  ever  found  it  necessary  to  change 
his  mind  or  his  instructions,  and  when  the  work  of 
his  subordinates  was  completed  in  accordance  there- 
with it  was  dismissed  for  good  and  all.  He  never 
countermarched  his  troops  if  it  could  be  avoided, 
and  never  changed  their  destination  till  the  necessity 
for  the  change  was  shown  beyond  question.  If  any 
mistake  was  made  by  his  staff  or  by  his  subordinate 
commanders  he  generally  assumed  all  the  responsi- 
bility for  it  with  the  modest  declaration  that  "it  was 
my  fault;  I  ought  to  have  known  better,  or  given 
more  specific  instructions. ' ' 

His  orders  detaching  Granger  to  Knoxville  were 
303 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

not  promptly  put  into  execution,  and  this  was  per- 
haps partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  troops  were  not 
expecting  so  long  a  march  at  once  and  partly  to  the 
fact  that  Granger  himself  had  what  was  known  in 
the  army  as  a  "swelled  head,"  which  prompted  him 
to  take  liberties  with  his  orders.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  he  had  performed  an  important  service 
at  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  by  withdrawing  his 
division  from  the  Kossville-Einggold  road,  march- 
ing an  canon  to  the  battlefield  and  taking  his  place 
on  the  right  just  in  time  to  check  the  successful  on- 
set of  Longstreet  against  that  part  of  the  line.  While 
this  voluntary  movement  on  Granger's  part  was 
partly  due  to  the  influence  of  General  Steadman, 
Granger  always  received  most  of  the  credit  for  it. 
It  made  him  a  popular  hero  for  the  time,  and  in  the 
reorganization  which  took  place  after  the  battle  was 
over  gave  him  command  of  the  Fourth  Corps.  There 
was  a  sort  of  halo  about  his  impressive  head  and 
aggressive  personality  till  the  morning  of  the  second 
day  of  the  battle  of  Missionary  Eidge.  His  be- 
havior on  that  day  was  a  great  disappointment  to 
all.  It  was  not  only  trivial,  but  brought  upon  him  a 
severe  rebuke  from  Grant  for  wasting  his  time  on  a 
battery  and  leaving  his  army  corps  to  take  care  of 
itself.  From  that  day  forth  his  fortune  was  on  the 
wane.1  It  was  no  surprise  to  Grant  that  Granger 
was  slow  in  starting  to  Burnside  's  relief.  After  he 
arrived  at  Knoxville  another  incident  took  place 
which  completed  his  fall.  Longstreet  had  raised  the 
siege  on  the  approach  of  the  relieving  army  under 
Sherman,  and  had  resumed  his  return  march  for 

1  See  Dana  O.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXXI,  Part  I,  pp.  258-264.   Also 
Wilson,  it.,  pp.  265-267. 

304 


MISSIONARY    RIDGE 

Virginia.  Grant  had  given  instructions  for  the  whole 
force  now  in  that  theater  to  continue  in  pursuit  of 
the  enemy  and  destroy  or  drive  him  out  of  East 
Tennessee.  The  force  available  for  that  purpose 
was  ample,  but  for  some  reason  beyond  the  fact  that 
the  weather  was  cold  and  wintry,  our  force  was 
badly  handled  and,  instead  of  destroying  the  enemy, 
permitted  him  to  escape  practically  unhurt.  When 
Christmas  came,  instead  of  being  well  on  their  way 
toward  Bristol  a  hundred  or  so  miles  up  the  valley, 
the  commanding  officers  assembled  in  Knoxville  for 
the  usual  holiday  jollification.  Having  dined  and 
gathered  about  a  blazing  fire,  Granger  in  his  loudest 
voice  said:  " Let's  send  a  telegram  to  Grant,' '  and, 
calling  for  a  blank,  wrote  as  follows:  "We  are  in 
Knoxville  and  will  hold  it  till  hell  freezes  over." 
Handing  it  to  Foster,  who  was  the  senior  officer 
present,  he  asked:  "How  will  that  do?"  Where- 
upon Foster,  seeing  that  the  message  was  both  un- 
necessary and  in  bad  form,  wrote  at  the  end  of  it 
the  word  i  i  Tight, '  f  meaning  to  indicate  that  Granger 
was  under  the  influence  of  liquor  and  that  the  mes- 
sage should  not  go.  But,  unfortunately,  the  operator 
did  not  understand,  and  sent  the  message  with  the 
extra  word  added  to  it.  It  came  thus  duly  to  head- 
quarters, which  happened  to  be  at  that  time  in  my 
charge,  and,  as  none  of  the  explanations  came  with 
it,  I  also  failed  to  understand  it.  When  I  handed  it 
to  Grant  on  his  return  a  few  days  later,  he  was  nat- 
urally both  puzzled  and  indignant,  first  because  the 
phraseology  used  was  trivial  if  not  discourteous  and, 
second,  because  he  thought  the  army  and  its  officers 
were  in  close  pursuit  of  Longstreet  far  on  the  road 
toward  Virginia.    It,  of  course,  completed  the  con- 

305 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

viction  in  Grant's  mind  that  Granger  was  a  trifler 
unworthy  of  high  command  or  great  responsibilities, 
and  although  the  full  explanation  was  received  after 
Grant  arrived  at  Knoxville  ten  days  later,  he  had 
no  further  use  for  the  man  who  sent  the  despatch. 

Gordon  Granger  was  a  cavalry  officer  of  the  old 
school.  A  classmate  of  Fitz-John  Porter,  Thomas 
J.  Wood,  and  W.  F.  Smith,  in  the  prime  of  life  he 
had  an  ideal  figure  with  a  fine  head,  a  fierce  mous- 
tache, and  a  withering  glance.  While  his  port  and 
bearing  were  those  of  the  traditional  swashbuckler, 
he  had  natural  parts  and  professional  acquirements 
far  above  the  ordinary.  Imprudent  and  reckless  in 
behavior,  he  would  do  himself  more  harm  by  a  day 
of  senseless  braggadocio  than  he  could  repair  by  a 
month  of  irreproachable  conduct.  A  compound  of 
opposites,  inconsiderate,  overbearing,  and  profane  to 
a  degree  rarely  surpassed,  he  knew  how  to  be  a  gen- 
tleman of  the  most  courtly  manners.  Brave,  bril- 
liant, and  aggressive,  a  bolt  of  steel  in  action,  he 
occasionally  fell  into  fits  of  indolence  and  wasted 
hours  when  minutes  were  of  inestimable  value.  His 
voluntary  and  timely  appearance  on  the  field  of 
Chickamauga  lifted  him  at  one  bound  into  the  posi- 
tion of  a  national  hero.  Dana  called  him  the  Mar- 
shal Ney  of  the  war,  and  had  he  but  known  how  to 
profit  by  the  high  qualities  this  compliment  ascribed 
to  him,  he  might  easily  have  been  one  of  our  fore- 
most generals.  But  with  vanity  which  was  as  weak 
as  it  was  futile  he  fell  into  the  error  of  supposing 
that  he  had  nothing  more  to  do,  not  even  to  obey 
orders  promptly  and  willingly.  With  fully  as  much 
courage,  more  brains,  and  a  far  more  impressive 
figure  and  appearance  than  Sheridan,  he  fell  far  be- 

306 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

low  that  general  in  the  cheerful  alacrity  and  readi- 
ness with  which  he  watched  for  opportunity  and 
performed  the  duty  that  always  comes  to  those  who 
earnestly  hunt  for  it.  While  Granger's  soldierly 
conduct  brought  him  to  the  battle  of  Chickamauga 
without  orders  and  greatly  distinguished  him,  Sheri- 
dan ?s  conduct  in  withdrawing  from  it  and  marching 
around  without  authority  came  near  being  his  ruin. 
On  the  other  hand,  Missionary  Ridge  brought  the 
latter  prominently  into  notice  and  made  Grant  his 
friend  forever,  while  it  seriously  impaired  the  fame 
of  the  former  and  caused  his  ultimate  disappearance 
from  the  field  of  opportunity.  From  that  day  forth 
Sheridan's  star  was  in  the  ascendant,  while  Gran- 
ger's was  on  the  wane.  Thus  the  fortunes  of  sol- 
diers are  made  or  marred  when  they  are  least  con- 
scious of  it. 

The  relief  expedition  from  Chattanooga  to  Knox- 
ville  finally  fell  under  the  command  of  Sherman, 
who  displayed  unusual  facility  in  getting  through 
an  unfamiliar  region  with  readiness  and  celerity. 
Dana  and  I  accompanied  him,  I  as  chief  engineer 
and  Dana  as  the  representative  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment. The  enemy  destroyed  the  railroad  bridges  on 
the  route,  and,  as  the  small  rivers  and  creeks  flow- 
ing into  the  Tennessee  were  mostly  too  high  for 
fording  and  generally  without  highway  bridges,  tem- 
porary means  of  crossing  them  had  to  be  provided 
and  it  became  my  place  to  look  after  their  location 
and  construction. 

We  left  Chattanooga  at  two  o'clock,  Sunday, 
November  29,  1863.  The  wind  was  high  and  the 
weather  bitterly  cold,  and  on  crossing  Citico  Creek 
one  of  our  pack-mules  fell  with  the  pack-man  under 

307 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

him  into  the  freezing  water.  When  I  heard  the 
clatter  and  looked  back  I  conld  just  see  the  man's 
head,  and,  fearing  he  might  get  hurt  or  drowned,  I 
was  about  to  go  to  his  rescue,  when  he  sang  out 
cheerily:  "Go  on,  General,  don't  wait  for  me,  I'll 
be  along  directly.' ' 

We  reached  Tyner's  Station,  ten  miles  from 
Chattanooga,  that  night  and  took  refuge  in  a  large, 
white  frame  house,  full  of  women  and  children.  The 
house  belonged  to  a  high  Confederate  official,  but 
the  women  and  children  were  of  the  native  poor 
white  class.  The  furniture  had  all  been  carried  off 
except  bedsteads  and  feather  beds,  and  the  house 
was  entirely  without  provisions.  We  soon  had  a 
blazing  fire  in  what  had  been  the  parlor,  and  our 
orderly  had  killed  a  pig,  parts  of  which  we  broiled 
on  the  coals.  As  we  had  brought  bread,  coffee, 
and  sugar,  we  had  a  comfortable  supper,  in  which 
the  family  eagerly  participated.  The  old  man  ap- 
peared to  be  about  sixty,  while  his  fair-haired,  blue- 
eyed  young  wife  looked  as  though  she  could  not  be 
over  twenty-two  or  twenty-three.  There  were  five 
or  six  daughters,  one  of  whom  was  evidently  older 
than  her  young  step-mother,  another  scarcely  a  year 
old.  After  eating  heartily  they  told  us  a  touching 
story  of  deprivation  and  want,  brought  about  by 
the  soldiers  of  both  armies  who  had  preyed  upon 
them  till  they  were  reduced  to  the  point  of  actual 
starvation.  One  after  another,  from  the  oldest  to 
the  youngest,  they  began  to  cry  over  their  suffer- 
ings, and,  as  the  tears  rolled  down  their  cheeks,  the 
mother,  young  girls,  and  babies  in  turn  pulled  out 
their  snuff  bottles  and,  much  to  our  astonishment, 
began  to  dip  snuff.     The  youngest  child  could  not 


MISSIONARY    EIDGE 

talk,  but  it  " dipped' '  from  the  start  with  the  best 
of  them  and  seemed  to  find  just  as  much  consolation 
in  "  dipping' y  as  its  seniors.  The  head  of  the  fam- 
ily was  past  the  military  age,  and  therefore  permit- 
ted to  remain  at  home.  He  was  of  the  gray-back, 
east  Tennessee  type,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  neither 
he  nor  any  of  his  connections  had  ever  owned  a 
slave,  while  his  wife  and  girls  were  as  blonde  as  the 
morning  and  all  exceedingly  good-looking.  They 
were  of  the  pure  Saxon  type  which  we  found  every- 
where throughout  the  mountain  regions  of  Tennes- 
see, Georgia,  and  the  Carolinas. 

We  started  the  next  morning  after  a  hearty 
breakfast  of  pork  chops  which  had  frozen  during 
the  night  and  were  far  more  palatable  than  our 
first  mess  from  that  pig.  We  overtook  Sherman 
about  noon  a  short  distance  beyond  Cleveland,  and, 
pushing  on  with  him,  reached  Charleston  on  the  Hi- 
wassee  Eiver  just  before  dark.  Here  we  found 
Howard  with  the  Eleventh  Corps  repairing  the  rail- 
road bridge  for  his  troops.  This  work  was  in  charge 
of  Major  Ernest  F.  Hoffman,  an  ex-officer  of  the 
Prussian  Engineers,  who  attracted  my  attention  by 
the  great  energy,  ability  and  good  sense  with  which 
he  utilized  the  materials  at  hand  and  put  a  safe  road- 
way over  the  bridge  before  midnight.  A  few  days 
later  I  saw  him  again  building  a  bridge  across  the 
Little  Tennessee  with  army  wagons  for  supports, 
thus  aptly  illustrating  the  advantages  of  military 
education  and  experience. 

After  the  war  I  employed  Major  Hoffman  as  a 
civil  assistant  on  government  works  and  found  him 
to  be  a  most  experienced,  accomplished,  and  con- 
scientious engineer.    He  was  the  son  of  Lieutenant 

309 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

General  Hoffman  of  the  Prussian  army,  a  graduate 
of  the  Military  School  at  Berlin,  was  assigned  to 
the  (engineers  and  served  with  the  Pioneer  Corps 
till  1851.  He  afterward  served  on  fortifications  and 
received  a  memorial  medal  for  his  work.  About  this 
time  he  had  a  romantic  love  affair  closed  by  the 
death  of  his  sweetheart  which  he  commemorated  in 
a  novel  that  became  famous  for  its  impassioned  and 
touching  eloquence.  Then  with  slow  promotion  and 
too  much  routine,  he  resigned  and  took  service  in 
the  British  Foreign  Legion  as  captain  and  adjutant 
of  the  rifle  battalion  and  went  with  it  to  the  Crimean 
War.  After  the  war  ended  he  served  with  the  Le- 
gion at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  for  bravery  in  two  campaigns 
against  the  Zulu-Kaffirs.  He  made  two  voyages  to 
England  and  back,  during  one  of  which  he  stopped 
at  St.  Helena  to  visit  the  scene  of  Napoleon's  im- 
prisonment. He  was  finally  mustered  out  when  the 
Legion  disbanded  in  1857  and  returned  to  Berlin  on 
a  visit.  Shortly  after  arriving  there  he  volunteered 
and  joined  Garibaldi,  who  was  then  organizing  his 
expedition  against  Sicily,  and  served  on  his  staff  in 
all  the  wonderful  events  from  the  first  landing  till 
the  Garibaldian  forces  were  absorbed  into  the  army 
of  United  Italy  under  Victor  Immanuel.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  siege  of  Gaeta  and  greatly 
distinguished  himself  for  courage  and  enterprise. 
He  was  decorated  for  gallantry,  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major  of  engineers  in  the  regular  Italian 
army,  and  was  rewarded  by  a  pension  of  five  hun- 
dred lire,  which  was  paid  annually  to  the  day  of 
his  death.  He  was  a  scholar  and  mathematician  of 
the  highest  quality,  and  as  such  made  the  acquain- 

310 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

tance  of  George  P.  Marsh,  then  American  minister 
at  the  Italian  capital,  where  the  latter  in  due  time 
made  it  known  to  the  major  and  perhaps  others  that 
foreign  officers  of  experience  could  find  employment 
in  the  United  States.  Being  a  lover  of  freedom,  and 
as  he  called  himself  "a  patriot,"  he  threw  up  his 
commission  in  Italy  and,  with  the  Minister's  creden- 
tials, made  his  way  to  Washington,  where  he  was 
promptly  appointed  major  and  additional  aid-de- 
camp. He  served  with  Blenker,  Siegel,  Schurz, 
and  Howard,  winning  the  confidence  and  respect  of 
all.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  the  best  of  them  to 
say  that  Hoffman,  who  lacked  nothing  but  rank,  was 
superior  in  every  military  virtue  and  accomplish- 
ment. Sober,  serious,  and  untiring,  as  brave  as 
any  paladin,  and  as  punctilious  as  any  knight  er- 
rant, he  was  always  ready  and  always  practical.  It 
was  his  proudest  boast  that  he  was  indeed  a  "  Dutch 
Yankee. ' '  Modest  and  gentle  as  a  woman,  industri- 
ous and  patient  as  a  navvy,  an  accomplished  musi- 
cian, and  an  interesting  conversationalist,  he  was 
one  of  the  most  useful  and  most  lovable  men  I  ever 
came  in  contact  with.  When  our  army  was  reorgan- 
ized after  the  war  he  was  appointed  on  my  recom- 
mendation a  lieutenant  in  my  own  regiment,  the 
Thirty-fifth  Infantry.  At  his  examination  the  presi- 
dent of  the  board  gave  him  an  equation  of  the  sec- 
ond degree  to  solve,  which  he  did  without  going  to 
the  blackboard.  After  a  moment's  pause  for  an- 
other question,  he  said:  "But  that  is  quite  simple. 
Will  the  board  please  have  the  kindness  to  give  me 
something  a  little  more  abstruse  in  the  mathemat- 
ics V*  He  was  promptly  pronounced  proficient. 
Hoffman  was  so  good  an  engineer,  however,  that  I 

311 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

never  permitted  him  to  join  his  regiment,  but  kept 
him  on  public  works  as  an  assistant,  so  long  as  he 
remained  an  army  officer,  and  afterward  as  a  civil 
engineer  at  higher  pay  till  his  death  in  1884.  I 
have  never  known  a  better  or  more  interesting  man. 

During  the  same  trip  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
General  Schurz  and  Colonel  Hecker.  The  former 
was  not  a  military  man  by  profession,  while  the  lat- 
ter had  held  only  the  lowest  rank,  but  both  had  par- 
ticipated in  the  revolution  of  1848,  and  Hecker  had 
been  president  of  the  so-called  German  Republic. 
They  were  both  notable  men  but  of  very  dissimilar 
characteristics.  One  tall,  slender,  and  professor-like 
in  appearance,  was  commanding  a  division ;  the  oth- 
er, of  middle  height,  fine  figure,  and  benevolent  coun- 
tenance, had  settled  in  Illinois  and  was  commanding 
an  Illinois  regiment,  mostly  Germans.  Dana  and  I 
rode  with  Schurz  much  of  the  way,  both  going  and 
coming,  and  found  him  a  most  agreeable  companion. 
He  had  already  become  famed  as  an  orator  who 
spoke  English  with  perfect  accuracy  and  fluency,  but 
never  rose  to  any  great  distinction  as  a  commander 
of  troops.  While  he  was  zealous  and  courageous,  he 
probably  adopted  the  military  calling  too  late  in  life 
and  entered  it  with  too  much  rank  ever  to  become 
highly  proficient  in  it.  It  was  during  this  trip  that 
he  and  Dana  conversed  first  in  one  language  and 
then  in  the  other,  and  in  mutual  admiration  each 
complimented  the  other  as  speaking  both  tongues 
perfectly. 

Hecker  was  of  a  different  sort;  grave  and  dig- 
nified in  bearing,  he  spoke  English  imperfectly  and 
with  a  strong  German  accent.  But  he  was  conscien- 
tiously observant  of  orders  and  discipline  and  com- 

312 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

manded  the  respect  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  con- 
tact. On  the  return  journey  Dana's  horse  gave  out, 
and,  being  unable  to  borrow  or  buy  another,  he  was 
forced  to  pick  up  one  as  best  he  might.  In  the  last 
extremity  near  Hecker  's  column  we  saw  a  horse  gal- 
loping gaily  about  a  field,  and,  liking  its  movements, 
Dana  asked  Hecker  to  direct  his  men  to  catch  it 
for  him.  But  it  was  evidently  a  horse  of  the  coun- 
try and  strict  orders  were  in  force  against  taking 
property  from  the  east  Tennesseeans,  who  were  as- 
sumed to  be  loyal.  The  Colonel  hesitated  for  a 
moment,  then,  with  a  pleasant  smile  lighting  up  his 
handsome  face,  he  called  out  to  one  of  his  men: 
1  'Hans,  you  see  that  horse  galloping  yonder?  That's 
Herr  Dana's  horse.  Herr  Dana  is  the  Secretary  of 
War.  You  go  catch  it.  Herr  Dana  will  give  you 
ten  dollars  IV  A  vigorous  but  ineffectual  chase  took 
place,  as  the  horse,  leaping  the  fence,  took  to  the 
woods  and  made  its  escape. 

On  our  northward  march  we  passed  through  Ath- 
ens, Mousecreek,  Sweetwater,  and  Philadelphia,  all 
pretty  villages  surrounded  by  fertile  fields.  The 
east  Tennessee  valley  is  everywhere  well  watered 
and  fortunately  we  found  it  plentifully  supplied 
with  cattle,  sheep,  corn,  and  hay,  which  the  troops 
took  as  they  needed  and  settled  for  with  vouchers 
on  the  quartermaster 's  department.  Rumors  reached 
us  on  the  march  that  Richmond  had  fallen,  that 
Knoxville  had  surrendered,  and  finally  that  Long- 
street  had  been  repulsed  and  had  begun  his  retreat. 
On  the  night  of  December  3  we  reached  Morgan- 
town  on  the  Little  Tennessee  River.  Here  we  found 
a  ford  in  which  the  water,  three  and  a  half  feet 
deep,  was  passable  by  teams  and  cavalry,  but  too 

313 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

wide  and  too  cold  for  infantry.  A  bridge  was 
therefore  necessary,  and,  having  but  few  tools,  nails, 
or  other  materials,  we  were  compelled  to  tear  down 
houses  to  obtain  lumber  for  the  bridge.  By  the  next 
morning  at  five  o  'clock  the  structure  was  ready.  It 
was  a  simple  trestle  without  tenons  or  mortises  and 
was  put  together  with  square  joints,  secured  by 
diagonal  boards  nailed  to  the  uprights  and  sills.  The 
spans  were  braced  diagonally  in  the  same  manner, 
and  while  the  structure  was  a  frail  one,  it  proved 
ample  with  only  one  or  two  short  interruptions  to 
pass  our  entire  column  across  the  river  dry  shod. 

While  the  troops  were  crossing,  a  large  Maltese 
ass,  ridden  by  one  of  the  men,  afforded  a  laughable 
example  of  obstinacy.  He  had  got  about  half  way 
across  the  river  by  the  ford  when  he  took  a  notion 
to  stop  in  the  deepest  water  almost  as  cold  as  ice, 
nearly  half  way  up  his  sides.  His  rider  persuaded, 
punched,  cursed,  and  beat  him  in  every  known  way, 
but  all  to  no  purpose.  The  stubborn  animal  backed 
square  around  against  the  current  and  stood  stock 
still,  the  ice-cold  water  cutting  him  like  a  knife  for 
four  or  five  hours.  His  rider  finally  took  refuge  in 
a  passing  wagon,  and  still  the  stupid  beast  would 
not  move.  Finally,  toward  the  last,  one  of  the  team- 
sters hitched  a  rope  to  its  neck  which  he  fastened  to 
the  tail  of  his  wagon,  and  then  starting  his  team 
drew  him  with  his  feet  braced  to  the  shore,  appar- 
ently to  his  intense  disgust. 

I  rode  into  Knoxville  after  dark  December  5, 
having  learned  at  Marysville  that  Longstreet  had 
raised  the  siege  and  started  to  Virginia.  I  found 
Burnside,  Bowen,  and  Babcock  glad  that  relief  was 
at  hand.    They  had  sustained  themselves  well,  and, 

314 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

although  they  had  been  desperately  assaulted,  had 
repelled  every  attack  with  great  loss  to  the  enemy. 
Sherman  came  in  the  next  day  and,  after  a  confer- 
ence with  Burnside  and  his  officers,  concluded  to 
return  with  his  own  corps  to  Chattanooga,  for  the 
reason  that  he  could  more  easily  feed  it  near 
there  and  could  get  it  ready  more  quickly  to  join 
the  campaign  which  must  soon  begin  against  At- 
lanta. The  destruction  of  the  railroad  bridges  be- 
tween Knoxville  and  Cleveland  and  the  great  amount 
of  depredation  which  had  already  been  committed 
in  east  Tennessee  by  the  contending  armies  ren- 
dered it  extremely  difficult  to  longer  support  so 
large  a  force  in  that  region.  Both  sides  had  lived 
off  the  country  in  their  march,  and,  although  they 
had  paid  in  vouchers  for  what  they  had  taken,  they 
left  a  wide  swath  of  destitution  in  their  wake.  In 
view  of  the  further  fact  that  Longstreet  had  already 
got  too  far  ahead  to  be  overtaken,  the  determina- 
tion of  Sherman  to  countermarch  to  Cleveland  and 
Dalton,  if  not  in  strict  accord  with  Grants  orders, 
was  the  best  thing  under  all  the  circumstances  left 
open  for  him.  As  I  concurred  in  this  opinion,  Dana 
and  I  also  concluded  to  return  to  headquarters  for 
the  purpose  of  fully  explaining  the  course  adopted. 
It  was  understood  that  Burnside  and  Granger  would 
continue  the  pursuit  of  Longstreet,  though  the  slush, 
snow,  and  cold  weather  of  mid-winter  made  all  oper- 
ations necessarily  both  difficult  and  slow. 

The  campaign  about  both  Chattanooga  and 
Knoxville  having  terminated  in  our  favor,  Grant 
anxiously  discussed  the  question  of  future  opera- 
tions with  W.  F.  Smith,  Eawlins,  and  myself.  The 
relations  between  the  war  in  the  West  and  the  East' 

315 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

were  carefully  considered  and  the  conclusion  was 
reached  that  a  general  plan  should  now  be  arranged 
for  a  cooperative  and  extensive  campaign  against 
the  interior.  Hitherto  it  had  not  mattered  seriously 
whether  plans  in  the  two  widely  separated  theaters 
of  war  were  carried  on  simultaneously  or  not,  but 
since  the  great  step  forward  at  Vicksburg  and  the, 
active  cooperation  between  Lee's  army  and  Bragg's, 
it  had  become  apparent  that  the  entire  method  of 
carrying  on  the  war  should  be  changed.  By  common 
consent  Grant  was  supreme  in  the  West  and  would 
have  absolute  control  of  any  movement  into  the 
heart  of  the  Confederacy.  We  concluded,  there- 
fore, that  it  was  of  the  first  importance  that  some 
one  should  be  assigned  to  command  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  who  could  be  depended  upon  to  co- 
operate fully  in  the  next  general  plan  for  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  rebellion.  Many  different  plans 
were  discussed  for  the  attainment  of  that  end.  It 
was  at  first  deemed  most  important  that  Mobile 
should  be  taken,  and  then  that  Atlanta  and  central 
Georgia  should  be  occupied.  It  appeared  obvious 
that  Grant  and  Sherman  would  be  called  upon  to 
undertake  those  operations,  and  Grant  gave  it  as 
his  opinion  that  Smith  was  the  best  available  man 
for  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Be- 
lieving that  his  great  capacities  would  find  ample 
scope  in  that  command  and  that  Smith  would  co- 
operate harmoniously  and  fully  with  him  and  Sher- 
man, he  asked  Dana,  who  had  taken  a  part  in  all 
the  discussions,  to  lay  his  views  fully  before  the 
Government  at  Washington,  and,  accordingly,  Dana 
set  out  for  that  place  about  the  middle  of  the  month. 
On  his  arrival  he  had  full  and  frequent  conferences 

316 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

with  both  the  Secretary  of  "War  and  the  President. 
General  Eawlins  started  with  him,  but  went  to  Con- 
necticut for  the  purpose  of  marrying  the  young  lady 
whom  he  had  so  gallantly  protected  at  Vicksburg. 
Before  rejoining  the  army  he  visited  Washington, 
where  he  again  produced  a  most  favorable  impres- 
sion.1 

On  December  18  General  Grant,  with  Colonels 
Comstock  and  Duff  and  Chief  Surgeon  Kittoe,  went 
to  Nashville,  leaving  me  in  sole  charge  of  headquar- 
ters. During  the  lull  which  followed  I  ran  the 
current  business,  and  employed  my  spare  time  in 
the  preparation  of  a  memoir  on  the  siege  and  cam- 
paign of  Vicksburg  to  be  submitted  to  the  Board  of 
Engineers  as  a  thesis  for  my  promotion  to  the  rank 
of  captain.  I  worked  night  and  day  till  Grant  re- 
turned toward  the  end  of  the  month.  For  the  first 
time  I  was  troubled  with  a  carbuncle  on  the  back  of 
my  neck  which  the  doctor  said  arose  from  defective 
nutrition.  That  this  should  have  been  the  case  was 
by  no  means  surprising,  for,  like  the  rest  of  the 
army  high  and  low,  I  had  lived  on  army  rations 
supplemented  by  what  I  could  get  from  the  coun- 
try. On  Christmas  I  received  a  dozen  boxes  of 
freshly  canned  oysters,  which  a  friend  of  General 
Grants  sent  from  Baltimore.  I  divided  them  with 
Thomas,  Sheridan,  and  Brannan,  and  received  in 
return  from  Sheridan  a  half  dozen  quails  that  one 
of  his  scouts  had  brought  in  from  the  head  of  Se- 
quatchie Valley. 

On  December  29  Grant  returned  to  headquar- 
ters, but  started  the  same  day  with  Bowers,  Com- 

*See  the  Diary  of  Gideon  Welles;  also  Wilson >s  "Life  of  John 
A.  Eawlins." 

317 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

stock,  Dunn,  Doctor  Kittoe,  and  myself  to  Knox- 
ville.  During  our  operations  between  Bridgeport 
and  Chattanooga  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
had  built  a  steamer  on  which  we  embarked  with  our 
horses,  orderlies,  and  servants,  and  at  10  a.  m.  of 
the  last  day  of  the  year  we  reached  Knoxville,  hav- 
ing transferred  to  the  cars  at  Loudon. 

During  my  service  in  the  Vicksburg  and  Chat- 
tanooga campaign  I  rode  a  little  bay  horse  with 
black  points  which  General  Grant  called  the  "Waif" 
from  the  fact  that  he  had  been  picked  up  as  a  stray 
by  my  groom  during  the  siege  of  Vicksburg.  He 
was  by  all  odds  the  best  and  most  stylish  piece  of 
horse  flesh  that  came  under  my  observation  during 
the  war.  He  was  only  fifteen  hands  high  and 
weighed  about  eight  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  but 
judging  from  his  carriage  it  never  occurred  to  him 
that  he  was  not  equal  in  size  and  endurance  to  any 
horse  in  the  army.  Patient,  hardy,  and  sound,  he 
was  as  nimble  as  a  cat.  With  a  high  head,  an  arched 
neck,  and  so  perfectly  broken  that  he  could  feel  on 
which  side  of  a  tree  I  wished  him  to  pass,  he  could 
leap  anything  that  he  could  put  his  head  over  and 
could  carry  me  for  eight  hours  at  a  stretch  without 
showing  the  slightest  sign  of  fatigue.  General  Grant 
rode  him  during  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge, 
and,  for  a  few  days  thereafter,  wherever  he  went, 
never  forgot  to  see  that  "Waif"  was  included  in' 
the  horses  taken.  On  the  way  to  Knoxville  the  little 
fellow  berthed  near  one  of  the  cylinders  of  the  boat, 
when  the  engineer  thoughtlessly  turned  on  a  steam 
cock  and  gave  him  such  a  fright  that  he  broke  his 
halter  and  leaped  overboard.  Of  course  the  boat 
stopped  and  he  was  picked  up  at  the  shore  just  as 

318 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE 

a  native  was  mounting  and  making  away  with  him 
to  the  country.  I  rode  him  afterward  from  Knox- 
ville  to  Lexington  and  almost  constantly  for  six 
months  while  commanding  cavalry  in  Virginia. 
Later  I  took  him  with  me  back  to  Nashville  and  used 
him  during  the  Hood  campaign  till  he  was  entirely 
disabled  by  breaking  through  the  ice  on  the  road  to 
the  Tennessee  Eiver  when  the  mud  froze  on  his 
legs.  From  there  I  sent  him  to  the  hospital  at 
Nashville  to  rest  and  recover,  and  had  him  back 
fresh  as  a  lark  before  the  spring  campaign  began. 
His  military  career  ended  with  the  long  march 
through  Alabama  and  Georgia.  I  afterward  gave 
him  as  a  saddle  and  phaeton  horse  to  my  wife.  He 
died  in  Delaware  fifteen  years  later,  not  from  old 
age,  but  from  a  miscalculation  in  leaping  a  marsh- 
ditch  into  which  he  fell  and  wore  himself  out  trying 
to  regain  his  footing. 

At  the  first  station  beyond  Loudon,  a  tall,  griz- 
zled, gangling  east  Tennesseean  on  the  platform 
asked  if  General  Grant  was  on  that  train.  When  I 
said  he  was,  the  Tennesseean  threw  up  his  hands 
and  exclaimed:  "Well,  my  God,  there'll  be  war  in 
this  country  now ! ' ' 

Shortly  afterward  another  Tennesseean,  com- 
menting on  the  certainty  of  the  rebel  defeat,  said 
in  the  most  feeling  terms :  ' '  But  I  hope  that  won  't 
happen  till  Sherman  and  his  army  have  marched 
through  South  Carolina  so  that  those  people  shall 
have  a  taste  of  what  they  have  brought  upon  this 
war-scarred  region."  This  feeling  was  widespread 
and  accounts  for  much  of  the  depredation  afterward 
committed  by  Sherman's  army  in  his  campaign 
through  that  state. 

319 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

We  remained  at  Knoxville  but  a  few  days,  and 
after  taking  such  measures  as  were  necessary  for 
the  safety  of  that  region  Grant  set  out  on  horseback 
with  his  staff  and  orderlies  by  the  way  of  Straw- 
berry Plains,  Cumberland  Gap,  Barbersville,  and 
Loudon  to  Lexington,  Kentucky,  where  we  arrived 
on  the  10th  of  January,  1864.  The  General  and  his 
party  received  every  mark  of  respect  from  the  loyal 
people  of  that  region.  At  Lexington  he  had  his  first 
popular  ovation,  where  Leslie  Coombs  made  every 
effort  to  induce  him  to  make  a  speech,  but  the  Gen- 
eral persistently  declined  to  say  a  single  word.  The 
controversy  was  finally  settled  by  his  mounting  a 
chair  and  showing  himself  to  the  crowd.  He  was, 
however,  deeply  gratified  at  the  good  feeling  of  the 
people  and  especially  at  the  favor  extended  to  him 
by  the  ladies  of  the  city,  and  at  the  evidences  of 
the  many  loyal  families  of  that  beautiful  region. 

At  Lexington  we  took  train  for  Louisville  and 
Nashville,  where  the  next  day  we  established  head- 
quarters for  the  winter. 


320 


XII 


TEN  WEEKS  IN  THE  WAR  DEPARTMENT  AS 
CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

Grant,  Lieutenant  General — Rawlins  married — Chief-of- 
staff — Report  to  Secretary  of  War  for  duty — Prepare 
new  regulations — Horse  contractors — Duties  of  new 
position — Andrew  Johnson's  cavalry  regiments — 
Parting  with  Secretary  Stanton. 

Grants  headquarters  were  now  concentrated  in 
an  eligibly  situated,  pleasant,  and  capacious  house 
at  Nashville,  and  all  his  officers  settled  down  for  a 
comfortable  winter,  as  was  then  the  custom.  The 
armies  under  his  command  remained  separate  and 
distinct,  and  this  minimized  the  work  of  the  various 
departments  and  left  the  higher  staff  officers  com- 
paratively free  to  consider  and  discuss  plans  for 
the  future.  The  first  thing  in  hand  was  to  testify 
to  Rawlins'  new  wife  the  high  regard  in  which  his 
brother  officers  held  him.  This  was  done  by  a  purse 
of  $250,  which  was  invested  in  spoons,  forks,  cream 
jug,  sugar  bowl,  and  napkin  rings  for  Mrs.  Rawlins 
as  a  wedding  present.  This  little  diversion  ended, 
we  turned  our  thought  more  earnestly  than  ever  to 
the  future  campaign  as  though  the  sole  responsibil- 
ity was  on  us.  Every  conceivable  movement  from 
the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi  was  con- 

321 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

sidered.  All  the  important  cities,  strongholds,  de- 
pots, manufacturing  centers,  lines  of  communication, 
and  military  bases,  together  with  such  information 
as  could  be  got,  were  passed  in  review  night  after 
night,  not  only  between  ourselves,  but  with  General 
Grant.  The  weight  of  opinion  seemed  to  favor  a 
general  advance  from  Chattanooga  against  Atlanta 
and  this  was  finally  settled  upon  as  promising  the 
greatest  advantage  to  the  Union  cause.  Grant,  hav- 
ing become  the  center  of  all  eyes  and  the  hero  of 
the  public  as  the  only  successful  general  so  far  pro- 
duced by  the  war,  was  advanced  March  2,  1864,  to 
the  rank  of  lieutenant  general  and  put  in  command 
of  all  our  armies,  and  this  in  turn  necessarily  pro- 
duced a  corresponding  change  in  the  work  of  the 
staff. 

I  had  served  sixteen  months  with  him  through 
two  great  campaigns,  and  during  most  of  the  time 
had  been  the  only  regular  officer  in  daily  contact 
with  him.  As  I  have  frankly  said  elsewhere,  I 
joined  him  with  some  lack  of  faith  in  both  his  habits 
and  his  character,  but  my  opinion  of  his  real  worth 
grew  constantly  more  favorable.  I  found  him  mod- 
est and  unpretentious,  but  with  an  even  temper 
and  exceedingly  sound  judgment.  He  was  not  then 
and  never  became  what  regular  officers  regarded  as 
a  first-class  technical  or  theoretical  soldier.  He 
dealt  with  large  things  in  a  large  way,  and  left  de- 
tails of  every  sort  as  far  as  possible  to  those  below 
him.  He  had  great  faith  in  both  Sherman  and  Mc- 
Pherson  and,  therefore,  habitually  left  them  abso- 
lutely free  to  manage  such  movements  as  he  directed 
them  to  make  in  their  own  way.  He  had  no  great 
confidence  in  the  average  political  general,  but  here 

322 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

and  there  men  from  civil  life  like  Logan,  Crocker, 
John  E.  Smith,  Morgan  L.  Smith,  and  Gresham  won 
his  entire  confidence.  He  looked  upon  Logan  as  a 
brave,  ambitions,  and  competent  officer,  but  regard- 
ed him  as  a  habitual  grumbler  who  claimed  to  be  do- 
ing all  the  work  and  getting  less  than  half  the  praise 
to  which  he  was  justly  entitled.  Both  Sherman  and 
McPherson  were  credited  by  the  country  at  large 
and  especially  by  the  professors  at  West  Point  with 
supplying  him  with  brains.  Many  thought  that  they 
formulated  as  well  as  executed  his  plans,  but  to 
those  of  us  on  the  inside  this  claim  was  not  only 
baseless  but  absurd.  Sherman  was  a  talented,  talk- 
ative man,  widely  read  in  military  science  and  mili- 
tary history,  and  had  brilliant  views  on  all  subjects, 
but  his  critical  mind  was  destructive  rather  than 
constructive.  He  had  opposed  the  great  turning 
movement  of  the  Vicksburg  campaign,  but  had  co- 
operated loyally  to  make  it  a  success.  He  had  won 
Grant's  confidence  and  support  by  giving  him  sym- 
pathy and  encouragement  in  the  Corinth  campaign. 
They  both  had  the  highest  respect  for  C.  F.  Smith, 
who  was  commandant  while  they  were  cadets  at 
West  Point,  and  they  never  quite  got  over  the  sense 
of  awe  which  they  felt  in  his  presence  when  they 
were  boys  and  he  the  ideal  soldier  of  the  regular 
army.  Sherman  expressed  only  the  popular  opin- 
ion when  he  declared  that  neither  he  nor  Grant 
would  have  ever  been  heard  of  but  for  the  untimely 
death  of  that  admirable  officer.  This  may  not  have 
been  altogether  true,  for  Grant  at  least  outranked 
them  both  from  the  start  and  in  the  exercise  of  his 
functions  had  the  constant  aid  of  a  very  strong 
adlatus  and  adjutant.    I  refer  of  course  to  Rawlins, 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

who  showed  himself  from  the  first  to  be  a  vigorous, 
virile,  aggressive  character  who  commanded  atten- 
tion wherever  he  appeared.  As  we  have  seen,  he 
had  no  technical  military  knowledge  whatever,  but 
his  intimate  relations  with  Grant  from  the  time  he 
joined  the  staff  put  him  at  the  very  center  of  influ- 
ence and  responsibility,  and  in  the  emergencies  of 
Grant's  military  life  gave  him  not  only  the  last 
word,  but  in  more  than  one  instance  the  controlling 
one.  Withal  his  place  was  difficult  to  fill.  Conscious 
of  his  own  shortcomings  as  a  military  expert,  he 
necessarily  fell  back  upon  common  sense  and  the 
simple  obligations  of  daily  life  as  the  best  guides 
in  counseling  his  chief.  He  was  the  one  man  who 
never  feared  to  offer  his  opinions  or  to  advocate 
them  with  all  his  might,  whether  they  were  sought 
for  or  not.  He  asserted  from  the  first  conversation 
he  ever  had  with  me  that  Grant  was  i  i  a  good  man, ' ' 
and  that  we  could  "win  with  him  if  we  could  stay 
him  from  falling".  Certain  it  is  that  he  was  never 
rebuffed  and  that  the  leading  officers  found  in  him 
a  safe  and  direct  channel  through  which  they  could 
always  reach  their  common  chief  with  the  most  deli- 
cate suggestion  after  it  had  received  Bawlins'  con- 
sideration and  approval.  He  was  as  far  from  being 
a  sycophant  or  a  time-server  as  any  man  I  ever 
knew,  but,  eliminating  and  effacing  himself  and  his 
personal  interests  absolutely,  he  never  failed  to 
speak  out  with  fearlessness  and  independence  when 
he  thought  the  interests  of  his  chief  or  of  the  coun- 
try required  it.  In  this  he  was  habitually  respect- 
ful, but,  as  has  been  shown,  there  were  occasions 
when  he  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his  most  "in- 
tense vehemence  on  the  subject  matter"  in  tone  and 

324 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

language  which  no  man  could  affect  to  misunder- 
stand, and  it  was  this  well  known  fact  that  so  fully 
justified  Dana  in  saying  as  he  did,  just  after  the 
close  of  the  Chattanooga  campaign,  that  "the  best 
brains  ever  supplied  to  Grant  from  any  quarter 
were  supplied  by  the  generals  of  his  own  staff. ' ! 

In  further  explanation  it  may  be  truly  said  that 
great  commanders  as  well  as  princes  and  potentates 
generally  get  all  the  advice  and  assistance  they 
need,  and  the  most  fortunate  are  those  who  have  it 
winnowed  by  such  masterful  men  as  John  A.  Raw- 
lins. The  combination  in  Grant's  case  was  a  cred- 
itable and  fortunate  one.  The  great  character  which 
passed  into  history  under  the  name  of  Grant  was 
lacking  and  indeed  never  acquired  the  technical  per- 
fection which  characterized  the  great  soldiers  of 
history,  but,  as  the  sequel  showed,  it  finally  achieved 
signal  and  complete  success.  If  this  was  at  a  great- 
er expense  of  life  and  treasure  than  it  might  have 
otherwise  cost,  every  American  should  rejoice  that 
the  country's  resources  in  both  were  equal  to  the 
demands  made  upon  them,  and  that  there  were  two 
men  at  least  willing  to  pledge  their  character  and 
lives  to  the  successful  outcome  of  the  great  enter- 
prise in  which  they  were  engaged. 

My  stay  at  Nashville  lasted  from  January  12 
to  January  20,  during  which  I  took  part  in  discus- 
sions between  Grant,  W.  F.  Smith,  and  Rawlins  in 
reference  to  future  plans,  but  in  the  midst  of  them 
I  was  lifted  out  of  that  environment  by  an  order 
from  the  Secretary  of  War,  handed  to  me  by  Gen- 
eral Grant,  directing  me  to  proceed  to  Washington 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  charge  of  the  Cavalry 
Bureau  for  a  period  of  sixty  days,  or  till  active  op- 
*  325 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

erations  were  resumed  in  the  spring.  It  seems  that 
at  Dana's  suggestion  the  Secretary  had  asked  the 
General  to  lend  me  to  the  Department  for  that  pe- 
riod, at  the  end  of  which  time  I  was  to  return  to 
active  service  in  the  field.  The  terms  of  this  prop- 
osition were  of  the  most  flattering  character.1  Dana 
telegraphed  as  follows: 

Washington,  D.  C, 
January  17,  1864,  1  p.  m. 
Maj.  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant  : 

Will  it  be  practicable  for  you  to  spare  General  Wilson 
for  a  time  to  come  here  and  get  the  Cavalry  Bureau  into 
order  and  honesty? 

Of  course,  the  Department  will  make  no  order  which 
will  deprive  you  of  the  services  of  such  an  officer  without 
your  full  consent,  but  the  necessity  for  him  is  very  great, 
and  I  know  of  no  one  else  who  can  perform  the  duty  as 
well  as  he.  It  is  a  question  of  saving  millions  of  money 
and  rendering  the  cavalry  arm  everywhere  efficient.  You 
can  have  him  again  as  soon  as  he  gets  the  machine  in  good 
working  order,  say  in  sixty  days.  If  you  spare  him  let 
him  come  directly.  He  will  be  appointed  chief  of  the 
bureau.     Please  answer  by  telegraph.2 

C.  A.  Dana. 

Grant  replied  the  next  day  as  follows : 

Nashville,  Tenn., 
January  18,  1864,  11 :30  a.  m. 
C.  A.  Dana,  Esquire, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
I  will  order  General  Wilson  at  once.    No  more  efficient 
or  better  appointment  could  be  made  for  the  place.3 

U.  S.  Grant, 
Major  General. 
1  O.  R.  Series  1,  Vol.  XXXII,  Part  2,  pp.  115,  1131. 
?  O.  R.  Serial  No.  58,  p.  115. 
3  lb.,  p.  131. 

326 


t 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

Inasmuch  as  I  had  never  set  a  squadron  in  the 
field  I  was  greatly  surprised  at  the  Secretary's  re- 
quest, but  I  had  no  option  and  at  once  proceeded  to 
Washington,  relying  on  the  understanding  that  I 
should  rejoin  the  general  in  the  field  on  the  resump- 
tion of  operations  in  the  spring.  General  Grant  was 
to  have  accompanied  me  as  far  as  Louisville,  but  on 
the  eve  of  my  departure  was  compelled  to  go  to  Chat- 
tanooga for  the  purpose  of  making  final  dispositions 
for  the  expulsion  of  Longstreet  from  east  Tennessee. 
That  General  had  shown  a  disposition  to  counter- 
march toward  Knoxville  and  had  compelled  Granger 
and  Parke  to  retreat  from  Dandridge  toward  Sauls- 
bury  Plain. 

Immediately  after  reaching  Washington  I  called 
on  the  Secretary  of  War.  He  received  me  with  a 
scowling  countenance.  He  was  evidently  disap- 
pointed with  my  youthful  appearance,  but  proceeded 
at  once  to  lay  down  the  law:  "I  have  sent  for  you," 
said  he,  "because  I  understand  you  do  not  fear  re- 
sponsibility. My  life  is  worried  out  of  me  by  the 
constant  calls  of  the  generals  in  the  field  for  more 
cavalry  horses,  and  by  the  dishonesty  of  the  con- 
tractors who  supply  us  with  inferior  horses,  or 
who  transfer  their  contracts  to  sub-contractors  who 
do  not  fill  them  at  all.  They  are  a  set  of  unmitigated 
scoundrels,  and  I  want  you  to  reorganize  the  busi- 
ness, drive  the  rascals  out  and  put  the  cavalry  serv- 
ice on  an  effective  footing.  I  don't  want  you  to 
fail  as  Stoneman  did,  nor  to  say,  as  Garard  did: 
'I  cannot  hope  to  surpass  the  efforts  of  Stoneman. ' 
Don't  tell  me  you  can't  swing  the  job.  I  give  you 
carte  blanche  and  will  support  you  with  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  Department.     While  I  have  called 

327 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

you  here  for  this  particular  purpose,  please  remem- 
ber that  if  you  see  anything  else  in  the  "War  De- 
partment which  requires  attention  or  ought  to  be 
changed  you  are  to  come  and  tell  me  about  it.  That 
will  do,  sir."  He  afterward  told  a  friend  of  mine 
that  he  thought  my  body  was  too  short  for  my  legs. 

With  this  dismissal  from  the  great  war  minis- 
ter's presence,  I  proceeded  directly  to  the  office  of 
the  Bureau  in  what  was  known  as  the  Chain  Build- 
ing, and  entered  at  once  on  my  duties.  The  first 
thing  that  engaged  my  attention  after  installing 
my  able  classmate,  James  P.  Martin,  as  adjutant, 
was  to  reorganize  the  system  of  horse  inspections 
in  such  way  as  to  ensure  with  greater  certainty  the 
delivery  of  sound  and  serviceable  horses.  To  this 
end,  with  the  assistance  of  the  bureau  officers,  I 
prepared  a  new  system  of  inspection.  Each  board 
was  to' consist  of  three  persons,  one  regular  and  one 
volunteer  cavalry  officer,  and  one  citizen  expert,  at 
each  purchasing  depot.  The  regulations  provided 
among  other  things  for  branding  horses  already 
rejected  for  unsoundness  if  presented  again  before 
the  unsoundness  had  been  removed,  with  a  hot  iron 
under  the  mane,  imprinting  the  letter  "B"  perma- 
nently on  the  skin. 

Shortly  afterward  several  of  the  principal  horse 
contractors  invited  me  to  dinner  and  showed  a  dis- 
position to  extend  other  civilities,  but,  of  course, 
these  invitations  were  declined.  A  letting  was  near 
at  hand  for  eleven  thousand  horses  to  be  delivered 
at  St.  Louis,  Indianapolis,  Columbus,  St.  Paul,  and 
Elmira.  The  new  regulations  had  gone  out  and  the 
bids  for  the  horses  were  soon  to  be  opened.  On  the 
day  before  I  invited  all  the  known  bidders  to  as- 

328 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

semble  at  my  office  at  three  o  'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
When  they  were  all  there  I  notified  them  verbally 
that  the  laws  and  regulations  as  they  then  were 
would  be  enforced  to  the  letter,  that  every  man 
offering  horses  would  be  required  to  fill  the  contract 
awarded  him  exactly  in  the  manner  specified  there- 
in, that  no  contracts  could  be  sublet,  and  that  every 
successful  bidder  would  not  only  be  compelled  to 
enter  into,  but  carry  out,  his  contract  to  the  letter. 
I  expressed  the  hope  that  all  this  would  be  cheer- 
fully acquiesced  in,  but  concluded  with  the  remark 
that  it  was  my  duty  to  see  that  every  man  filled  his 
contract,  and  if  I  couldn't  make  him  do  it  peaceably, 
* '  I  should  make  it  out  of  his  hide. ' '  This  it  must  be 
confessed  was  rather  a  rough  speech,  but  from  the 
stories  I  had  heard  I  deemed  it  necessary.  The  next 
day  the  bids  were  opened  and  the  contracts  awarded. 
The  lowest  bidder  for  horses  at  St.  Louis  had  been 
a  good  while  in  the  business  and  seemed  to  be  com- 
petent and  trustworthy,  but,  inasmuch  as  he  received 
an  award  for  only  half  instead  of  all  the  horses  at 
that  point,  he  remarked  as  he  left  my  office  that  he 
didn't  think  he  would  enter  into  or  fill  the  contract 
awarded  him.  As  he  was  leaving  L  remarked :  S f  You 
had  better  think  it  over  carefully  before  deciding 
on  your  course,  and  in  doing  so  it  will  perhaps  be 
well  to  remember  that,  according  to  the  records  of 
this  office,  the  Government  now  owes  you  for  a  thou- 
sand head  of  horses,  not  one  dollar  of  which  will  it 
pay  if  I  can  prevent  it,  till  you  have  not  only  en- 
tered into  your  new  contract,  but  shown  that  you 
intend  to  carry  it  faithfully  into  effect.  Think  it 
over,  Colonel,  and  let  me  hear  from  you  to-mor- 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

The  next  morning  the  doubtful  Colonel  pre- 
sented himself  with  a  smiling  countenance  and 
said:  "General,  I  have  carefully  considered  the 
remark  you  made  as  I  was  leaving  your  office 
last  night,  and,  seeing  that  you  have  a  de- 
cided advantage  in  the  matter,  I  intend  to  enter 
into  that  contract  and  I  give  you  every  assurance 
that  I  shall  faithfully  carry  out  all  of  its  pro- 
visions." 

It  is  my  pleasant  duty  to  add  that  he  made  good 
on  every  count,  furnished  his  two  thousand  five 
hundred  head  of  horses  within  the  specified  time, 
all  of  which  were  fully  up  to  the  standard  of  the 
new  regulations,  but  he  was  the  only  one  of  six 
successful  bidders  that  carried  his  contract  through. 
All  the  others  failed  entirely,  one  or  two  did  not 
sign,  and  several  undertook  to  sublet  their  contracts 
after  they  were  awarded,  but  not  another  furnished 
the  horses  awarded  him.  On  reporting  the  facts 
with  my  recommendations  to  Dana,  then  Assistant 
Secretary  of  War,  he  ordered  that  each  of  the  de- 
faulting contractors  should  be  promptly  arrested, 
brought  to  Washington,  thrown  into  the  old  Capitol 
prison,  and  tried  by  court  martial.  Each  was  found 
guilty  of  violating  the  law  and  sentenced  to  fine  and 
imprisonment.  The  incident  created  a  good  deal 
of  excitement  among  contractors  and  the  politicians 
backing  them,  but  from  that  time  forth  the  supply 
of  cavalry  horses  became  much  more  regular,  and 
the  quality  greatly  improved.  While  the  price  rose 
from  $125  to  $150,  the  horses  proved  to  be  much 
more  serviceable  and  the  cavalry  rose  rapidly  from 
that  day  to  the  high  state  of  efficiency  which  it 
reached  before  the  close  of  the  war.    The  new  regu- 

330 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

lations  were  effective,  but  my  course  in  carrying 
them  out  made  me  many  active  enemies. 

The  bureau  over  which  I  presided  also  superin- 
tended the  purchase  and  supply  of  arms  and  equip- 
ments for  the  cavalry  service,  but  there  was  no  such 
necessity  for  radical  measures  in  that  branch  of  the 
business,  as  the  details  of  manufacture  and  inspec- 
tion were  conscientiously  and  honestly  looked  after 
by  the  regular  officers  of  the  Ordnance  Department. 
It  was  under  my  administration,  however,  that  the 
Spencer  magazine  carbine  was  adopted  as  the  stand- 
ard for  the  cavalry  service,  and  the  division  which 
I  commanded  in  Sheridan's  cavalry  was  the  first  in 
the  world  completely  supplied  with  that  or  any 
similar  arm.  I  may  also  add  that  the  three  divi- 
sions of  the  cavalry  corps  of  the  Military  Division 
of  the  Mississippi,  which  I  led  in  1864  and  1865 
through  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Georgia,  was  the 
first  command  of  that  size  in  the  world  ever  com- 
pletely supplied  with  magazine  firearms  of  any 
sort.  The  Spencer  carbine  carried  a  magazine  in 
the  stock  from  the  butt  to  the  trigger  guard.  It 
held  six  cartridges,  with  one  in  the  firing  chamber. 
The  whole  could  be  fired  as  rapidly  as  the  guard 
could  be  thrown  to  the  front  and  pulled  back,  by 
the  simple  mechanism  designed  for  that  purpose.  It 
was  by  all  odds  the  most  effective  firearm  of  the 
day,  and  I  have  never  had  any  doubt  that  its  ma- 
chinery was  easily  adaptable  with  such  minor 
changes  as  might  be  found  necessary  either  in  the 
size  of  the  cartridge  or  the  diameter  of  the  bore. 
There  was  no  other  arm  to  be  compared  with  it  in 
the  National,  Confederate,  or  any  other  service  at 
that  time,  and  consequently  no  charge  made  with  it 

331 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

in  hand  ever  failed.  To  the  perfection  of  this  car- 
bine and  the  rapidity  with  which  it  could  be  fired 
I  attribute  the  uniform  success  of  the  assaults  made 
against  the  enemy's  entrenchments  at  Nashville, 
Selma,  West  Point,  and  Columbus.  It  was  surely 
of  great  advantage  to  the  Federal  cavalry,  yet  many 
older  and  more  experienced  officers  looked  upon  it 
with  disfavor.  Conservatism  in  such  matters  is 
frequently  far  more  costly  than  the  most  reckless 
over-confidence. 

My  ten  weeks  in  Washington  that  winter  was  a 
time  of  great  activity.  My  office  hours  were  from 
eight  o'clock  till  four,  and  were  given  to  the  faith- 
ful study  of  the  needs  of  the  cavalry  service  and  the 
means  by  which  that  service  could  be  best  supplied 
and  made  most  effective.  The  most  pressing  want 
was  for  remounts,  and,  while  large  numbers  of 
horses  of  superior  quality  were  bought,  they  were 
necessarily  always  sent  to  the  troops  in  the  field 
without  proper  breaking  or  training.  At  no  time 
could  a  sufficient  number  be  had  to  keep  the  old 
regiments  properly  supplied.  In  view  of  this  fact 
the  efforts  of  the  bureau  were  directed  against  the 
organization  of  new  cavalry  regiments,  and  this 
sound  policy  brought  me  in  antagonism  to  many 
ambitious  governors  who  favored  the  cavalry  serv- 
ice because  it  was  more  showy  and  therefore  more 
popular  than  the  infantry.  It  was  always  easier  to 
raise  new  regiments  than  to  fill  up  the  old  ones. 
Among  those  who  favored  this  idea  was  Andrew 
Johnson,  then  a  brigadier  general  of  volunteers 
and  provisional  governor  of  Tennessee.  He  sought 
authority  from  the  Secretary  of  War  to  raise  twelve 
regiments  of  twelve  months'  men  from  the  loyal 

332 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

citizens  of  his  state,  but  so  long  as  I  remained  in 
the  bureau  I  frustrated  his  plans  by  representing 
that  with  all  our  efforts  we  could  not  secure  enough 
horses  for  the  old  regiments,  that  it  took  much  long- 
er to  make  good  cavalry  than  good  infantry,  and 
that  it  was  wasteful  and  costly  in  the  extreme  to 
permit  the  organization  of  such  regiments  as  those 
favored  by  Governor  Johnson.  Curiously  enough, 
when  I  took  command  of  the  cavalry  corps,  Military 
Division  of  the  Mississippi,  in  October  of  that  year, 
I  found  that  the  Governor  had  succeeded  in  organ- 
izing and  mustering  his  twelve  regiments  into  the 
army.  They  were,  of  course,  stationed  in  the  state 
so  they  could  easily  get  home,  and  consequently  less 
than  half  of  the  officers  and  men  were  present  with 
the  colors.  It  was  a  great  disappointment  to  find 
these  regiments  under  my  command,  but  it  was  my 
plain  duty  to  do  the  best  I  could  to  make  them  ef- 
fective. Under  the  ample  authority  allowed  me  I 
scattered  them  among  the  Northern  troops  where 
they  would  have  closer  supervision  and  better  dis- 
cipline, but  many  of  the  officers  were  untrained  and 
inefficient.  A  number  were  drunken  rowdies  who 
used  their  authority  to  terrorize  the  people  among 
whom  they  were  stationed.  Several  field  officers 
were  court-martialed  and  dismissed  for  absence 
without  leave,  and  this  made  it  necessary  to  fill  the 
vacancies  with  better  men,  not  always  the  next  in 
rank.  In  such  cases  the  cooperation  of  the  Gover- 
nor, who  had  the  appointing  power,  was  regarded  as 
essential,  and  under  the  advice  of  General  Thomas 
I  called  upon  Andrew  Johnson  at  the  Governor's 
Mansion  for  consultation.  He  received  me  with 
coldness  and  reserve,  and,  when  I  stated  my  busi- 

333 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

ness,  which  I  did  frankly  and  fully,  he  became  angry 
and  burst  out  with  the  declaration  that  he  would 
not  permit  me  to  asperse  the  Tennessee  cavalry  or 
its  officers,  alleging  that  they  were  as  good  as  any 
in  the  service.  As  this  was  far  from  the  fact  and 
we  were  from  the  start  widely  at  variance  on  the 
subject,  I  rose  to  take  my  leave,  remarking:  "I 
am  sorry  I  called  upon  you,  Governor.  I  hoped  to 
obtain  your  friendly  cooperation,  but  I  have  made 
a  mistake  and  will  try  to  get  on  without  your  help. ' ' 
Whereupon  he  said:  "Why  are  you  sorry V9  To 
which  I  replied:  "Because  I  am  disillusioned.  I 
came  here  thinking  that  you  were  a  statesman  and 
patriot,  but  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  you  are  merely 
a  politician  of  the  common  sort.  I  read  your  speech 
in  the  Senate  against  secession  and  I  said  to  my- 
self, here  is  a  man  worthy  to  be  President,  but  this 
interview  convinces  me  that  I  am  wrong."  * 

At  this  frank  but  perhaps  indiscreet  remark,  the 
Governor  instantly  changed  his  manner  and  declared 
his  anxiety  to  cooperate  with  me  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent, but  the  facility  with  which  he  metamorphosed 
himself  convinced  me  that  he  was  both  insincere 
and  untrustworthy,  and,  although  he  then  begged 
me  to  be  seated  and  give  him  my  views  fully,  I  was 
so  discouraged  by  my  reception  that  I  declined, 
merely  remarking  that,  as  he  was  a  brigadier,  while 
I  was  serving  as  a  brevet  major  general  under  the 
President's  assignment,  I  had  no  doubt  I  should 
be  able  to  carry  out  all  necessary  measures  for  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  discipline  in  my 
command  without  either  his  help  or  his  approval. 

This  view  of  the  matter  had  evidently  not  oc- 
curred to  him,  and,  although  it  was  followed  by  many 

334 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

friendly  assurances  on  his  part,  I  dropped  the  sub- 
ject there  and  took  my  leave.  I  met  him  several 
times  afterward  while  Hood  was  confronting  us  at 
Nashville,  and  am  glad  to  say  he  was  always  effu- 
sive in  his  offers  of  friendship  and  cooperation  in 
what  he  called  "our  plan  for  the  reorganization  of 
the  Tennessee  cavalry,  \ '  but  I  never  again  asked  for 
his  assistance.  Under  authority  granted  me  by  the 
War  Department  a  few  weeks  later  I  impressed  his 
saddle  and  carriage  horses  along  with  those  of  all 
other  non-combatants  in  that  region  for  the  purpose 
of  remounting  the  cavalrymen  who  had  lost  their 
mounts  in  the  preceding  campaigns.  I  broke  up 
the  separate  division  containing  his  regiments  and 
transferred  them  to  such  of  the  older  divisions  as 
were  most  likely  to  be  ordered  out  of  the  state. 
Where  necessary  I  filled  vacancies  as  they  occurred, 
whether  from  court-martial  or  otherwise,  by  assign- 
ing veterans  of  the  same  grade  from  Northern  regi- 
ments which  had  been  reduced  sufficiently  in 
strength  to  spare  them.  Fortunately  we  had  plenty, 
such  as  George  Spaulding  of  Michigan,  who  were 
experienced  and  gallant  officers  ready  to  embark 
in  any  service  which  with  a  few  hard  knocks  prom- 
ised them  a  little  true  glory.  The  plan  worked  well 
and  soon  brought  the  Tennessee  cavalry,  especially 
the  Twelfth,  which  Spaulding  led  till  the  end  of  the 
war,  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency.  If  there  was  ever 
any  fault  found  with  it  by  those  actually  concerned 
I  never  heard  of  it,  but  the  sequel  a  few  months 
later  shows  that  Andrew  Johnson  never  quite  for- 
gave me  for  the  plain  speech  I  made  to  him  while 
military  governor. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Andrew  Johnson  was 
335 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

elected  vice-president  in  November,  1864,  and 
shortly  after  the  inauguration  succeeded  to  the  of- 
fice of  President  through  the  assassination  of  Lin- 
coln. By  that  act  he  became  commander-in-chief, 
and,  although  the  war  was  at  an  end,  he  did  not  for- 
get. As  I  passed  through  Washington  late  in  De- 
cember of  the  next  year  on  my  way  North  I  felt  it 
incumbent  on  me,  as  was  then  customary,  to  pay 
my  respects  to  the  President  at  the  Executive  Man- 
sion. The  rest  of  the  story  is  soon  told.  This  was 
my  first  meeting  with  him  since  leaving  Nashville 
in  pursuit  of  Hood  and  he  received  me  promptly, 
but  with  all  the  austerity  and  dignity  he  could  com- 
mand. He  made  no  responses  to  my  respects  and 
good  wishes,  but  with  the  fewest  words  and  the  most 
formal  behavior  he  brought  my  call  to  an  end,  and, 
although  I  was  just  up  from  Georgia  where  recon- 
struction had  already  become  a  live  issue,  he  asked 
no  questions,  and  made  no  allusions  to  the  past,  but 
the  scowl  on  his  heavy  face  showed  that  he  not  only 
had  not  forgotten  my  plain  talk,  but  was  fully  con- 
scious of  the  superior  rank  he  now  enjoyed.  I  was 
married  on  the  third  of  January  and  in  just  three 
days  thereafter  I  received  a  formal  order,  issued 
by  the  President's  authority,  mustering  out  of  the 
service  Major  General  James  H.  Wilson  "at  his 
own  request' \  and  directing  him  as  a  captain  of  en- 
gineers to  report  at  the  end  of  his  leave  to  the  chief 
of  his  corps  for  duty. 

In  further  explanation  I  should  perhaps  state 
that  the  end  of  the  war  found  me  in  command  of 
central  Georgia,  and  it  was  General  Grant's  purpose 
when  the  Southern  states  were  divided  into  military 
departments  to  assign  me  to  the  command  of  the 

336 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

Department  of  Georgia,  but  President  Johnson 
promptly  turned  that  down  and  gave  the  place  to 
General  Steedman.  After  holding  command  of  the 
District  of  Macon,  to  which  I  succeeded  by  seniority, 
for  several  weeks,  I  concluded  I  had  too  much  rank 
for  such  command,  and,  as  I  did  not  want  to  stand 
about  with  nothing  to  do,  I  made  a  formal  applica- 
tion to  be  mustered  out.  This  request  having 
reached  the  President  in  due  course  was  promptly 
granted  and  the  formal  order  was  issued,  but  as  it 
passed  through  army  headquarters  Grant  held  it  up 
and  asked  me  to  remain  in  the  service  as  a  major 
general  for  the  present.  As  he  assured  me  that  I 
should  have  an  appropriate  command,  I  quite  will- 
ingly consented,  but  Johnson  had  evidently  not  been 
consulted,  and  when  I  called,  as  above  related,  to 
pay  my  official  respects,  it  put  him  on  inquiry  with 
the  result  that  he  directed  the  original  order  to  be 
reissued,  and  this  accounts  for  the  muster  out  at 
my  "own  request." 

The  incident  serves  to  show  that  it  is  not  safe  for 
an  army  officer  to  offend  even  the  vice-president  of 
the  United  States  by  too  much  frankness.  The  de- 
scent from  the  higher  rank  a  few  months  earlier  was 
of  itself  without  consequence  or  inconvenience,  but 
the  reduction  of  revenue  from  a  major  general's  pay 
and  allowances  to  those  of  a  captain,  with  a  wife 
to  provide  for,  was  a  serious  embarrassment.  From 
a  thousand  dollars  a  month  to  less  than  two  hun- 
dred, with  a  debt  of  eight  hundred  on  top  of  that, 
was  a  come  down  long  to  be  remembered,  but  withal 
it  had  its  amusing  side.  I  never  saw  Andrew  John- 
son after  that,  but  I  have  every  assurance  that  his 
troubles  were  greater  than  mine.     I  had  no  sym- 

337 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

pathy  with  his  political  vagaries,  but  I  never  be- 
lieved that  he  had  committed  high  crimes  or  misde- 
meanors for  which  he  should  have  been  either  im- 
peached or  convicted.  He  was  a  coarse,  obstinate, 
self-willed  man  of  low  tastes  and  instincts,  but  he 
was  also  frank,  courageous,  and  loyal  to  his  con- 
victions, and  his  bitterest  enemy  never  intimated 
that  his  hand  had  been  sullied  by  an  ill-gotten  far- 
thing. 

Stanton  was  a  man  of  altogether  different  type. 
A  learned  lawyer,  an  ardent  patriot,  and  a  most  tire- 
less worker,  he  was,  besides,  the  least  politic  man 
I  ever  met.  No  one  could  meet  him  without  admir- 
ing his  tremendous  energy  and  comprehensive  judg- 
ment, but  he  excited  neither  affection  nor  sym- 
pathy. He  was  rough,  overbearing,  and  outrageous 
to  his  inferiors;  negligent  and  contemptuous  to- 
ward his  equals,  and,  I  do  not  doubt,  at  times  bold 
and  uncompromising  with  his  superiors.  Dana,  as- 
sistant secretary  of  war,  was  one  of  the  few  men 
in  office  who  did  not  seem  to  fear  him,  and  through 
Dana  I  transacted  my  business  requiring  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Secretary.  Notwithstanding  Stanton's 
invitation  to  call  upon  him  whenever  I  had  any  sug- 
gestion to  make,  I  met  him  only  twice  during  my 
stay  in  Washington.  The  first  time  was  for  the  pur- 
pose of  informing  him  that  my  management  of  the 
Cavalry  Bureau  had  aroused  the  animosity  of  the 
contractors  and  their  political  backers,  several  of 
whom  in  both  the  House  and  the  Senate  had  openly 
threatened  to  prevent  my  confirmation  as  brigadier 
general  and  had  threatened  vengeance  against  the 
Secretary  of  War  if  he  dared  to  approve  my  action. 
In  the  interview  which  followed  I  gave  him  the 

338 


CHIEF  OF  CAVALRY  BUREAU 

name  of  one  senator  from  the  northwest  and  one 
representative  from  Pennsylvania,  whereupon  he 
burst  out  vehemently :  ' '  Oh,  I  know  them.  They  are 
both  d — d  cowards;  neither  one  of  them  will  ever 
come  within  five  hundred  yards  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment. I'll  take  care  of  them;  you  can  leave  that  to 
me  and  go  fearlessly  about  your  business." 

The  order  relieving  me  from  service  in  the  Cav- 
alry Bureau  came  April  7,  but  before  starting  to 
the  field  I  called  upon  the  Secretary  to  pay  my  re- 
spects and  take  my  leave.  Inasmuch  as  he  had  in- 
vited me  to  make  such  suggestions  as  might  occur 
to  me  for  the  betterment  of  administration,  I  ven- 
tured, in  recalling  that  circumstance,  to  say:  "Mr. 
Secretary,  I  regret  to  inform  you  that  a  mistake  has 
been  made  in  assigning  Colonel  Ekin,  the  Quarter- 
master's Department,  to  duty  as  chief  of  the  Bu- 
reau.' \  Instantly  he  flew  into  a  rage,  exclaiming: 
"What  in  hell  is  the  matter  with  Ekin!"  I  re- 
plied: "Nothing  except  he  is  a  volunteer  with 
neither  rank  nor  experience  for  the  position."  The 
Secretary  rejoined:  "Why  can't  he  give  his  orders 
in  my  name?"  To  this  I  replied:  "He  can,  but 
you  will  not  have  the  time  to  explain  what  you  want 
done,  and  he  will  not  have  the  knowledge  to  decide 
what  he  should  do."  The  Secretary,  with  increas- 
ing anger,  and  a  still  louder  voice,  then  said :  *  ■  Well, 

I  wish  the  whole  d d  thing  were  in  hell.    What 

do  you  recommend?"  In  reply  I  suggested  that 
General  Halleck,  chief  of  staff  of  the  army,  should 
have  supervision  over  the  Bureau,  explaining  that 
Colonel  Kautz,  my  principal  assistant,  an  expe- 
rienced old  officer,  aided  by  Colonel  Martin,  the  ad- 
jutant general,  also  an  able  officer,  would  be  com- 

339 


UNDER     THE     OLD     FLAG 

petent  to  carry  on  the  business  of  the  Bureau  with- 
out delay  or  interruption,  and  especially  without 
annoying  the  Secretary  with  the  details.  My  sug- 
gestion was  accepted,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  re- 
sults were  satisfactory,  but  it  may  be  remarked  that 
the  withdrawal  of  Kautz  for  duty  in  the  field  a  few 
weeks  later  placed  the  burden  more  firmly  on  Hal- 
leck  's  shoulders.  As  he  was  far  from  being  a  prac- 
tical soldier,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  before  the 
war  ended  that  the  cavalry  was  but  a  poor  arm  at 
best,  and  that  horses  enough  could  not  be  found  to 
supply  the  organized  regiments  with  remounts. 


340 


XIII 

SERVICES   IN  WASHINGTON 

Administration  and  duties  of  Cavalry  Bureau — Horse-pur- 
chasing stations — Governors  Andrew,  Morton,  and 
Dennison — Grant  at  Nashville — Dine  with  Lincoln — 
Lincoln  and  Ward  Lamon — Discontentment  with  gov- 
ernment— Loyalty  of  army — Return  to  field  service. 

My  services  in  the  Cavalry  Bureau  at  Washing- 
ton extended  from  January  23  to  April  7,  1864, 
or  about  ten  weeks.  It  ended  in  accordance  with  the 
understanding  between  General  Grant  and  Secre- 
tary Stanton  at  the  time  the  detail  was  made.  It 
covered  a  wide  range  of  subjects  connected  with  the 
cavalry  service,  as  fully  shown  in  the  records  and 
correspondence  of  the  Bureau.  They  touched  every 
question  that  could  arise  in  regard  to  the  organiza- 
tion, equipment,  mounts,  remounts,  armament,  in- 
struction, efficiency,  and  standardization  of  that 
most  expensive  arm.  The  purchase,  supply,  and 
care  of  horses  at  the  depots,  their  preparation,  and 
issue  for  service,  their  care  and  recuperation  when 
sick  or  worn  down  by  overwork  and  exposure  re- 
quired constant  supervision  and  involved  daily  cor- 
respondence by  telegraph  and  letter  with  army  com- 
manders, chiefs  of  cavalry,  horse  inspectors,  Bureau 
officers,  commanders  of  camps,  and  governors  of 

341 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

states.  I  was  occupied  from  morning  till  night, 
week  days  and  Sundays,  not  only  with  those  matters, 
but  with  senators,  representatives,  contractors,  man- 
ufacturers, and  inventors.  It  was  my  duty  to  serve 
as  a  breakwater  to  the  Department  and  a  protection 
to  the  public  treasury  against  fraud  and  spoliation. 
When  it  is  remembered  besides  that  in  doing  all 
this  it  was  necessary  to  keep  myself  solid  with  those 
in  authority  over  me,  without  running  to  them  with 
details,  it  will  be  readily  understood  that  I  had  no 
time  for  play,  and  that  my  job  was  no  sinecure.  I 
was  then  in  my  middle  twenties  and  absolutely  with- 
out general  experience  or  any  but  the  most  super- 
ficial knowledge  of  the  business  world.  I  had  no 
guide  but  army  regulations  and  standing  orders  and 
what  I  had  learned  at  West  Point,  supplemented  by 
my  short  service  after  graduating,  in  regard  to  or- 
ganization, supply,  maintenance,  and  administration 
of  armies  and  their  several  branches.  It  follows 
that  I  depended  mainly  upon  my  capacity  to  gather 
facts  and  to  apply  common  sense  and  good  judg- 
ment in  the  use  of  them. 

From  the  first  I  made  it  a  rule  to  lay  nothing 
over,  but  to  take  action  upon  every  case  as  it  arose. 
This  I  learned  from  Dana,  who  had  by  all  odds  the 
greatest  capacity  for  work  and  was  the  best  admin- 
istrator I  ever  met  in  public  office.  With  intense 
powers  of  concentration  he  disposed  of  one  case 
after  another  exactly  as  a  competent  mason  lays 
bricks.  He  hardly  got  one  settled  in  place  before 
he  took  another  in  hand.  And  thus  it  was  all  day 
long,  week  in  and  week  out.  It  was  my  good  for- 
tune to  room  and  board  in  the  same  house  with 
Dana.    We  went  to  our  offices  together  in  the  morn- 

342 


SERVICES    IN   WASHINGTON 

ing  and  left  them  at  the  close  of  office  hours  in  the 
afternoon.  When  our  day's  work  was  done,  it  was 
our  custom  to  go  out  on  horseback  for  an  hour  and 
a  half  and  on  Sundays  to  visit  the  Giesboro  depot 
and  camp  of  instructions  which  I  had  early  placed 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Lowell,  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Cavalry.  We  led  a  strenuous  life,  de- 
voting our  whole  time  and  attention  to  the  public 
service  and  to  the  cause  of  the  country.  We  ac- 
cepted but  few  invitations,  in  fact,  none  except  such 
as  came  to  us  in  the  way  of  duty.  As  soon  as  I  got 
the  machinery  of  my  Bureau  in  condition  to  trans- 
act business  with  certainty  and  dispatch,  I  sought 
and  obtained  authority  to  visit  New  York,  Boston, 
Elmira,  Louisville,  Indianapolis,  St.  Louis,  Cincin- 
nati, and  Columbus  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting 
horse-purchasing  stations,  conferring  with  the  quar- 
termasters, inspecting  officers,  and  governors. 

At  Boston  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Governor 
Andrew,  at  that  time  almost  the  first  of  the  so-called 
war  governors.  I  found  him  full  of  interest  in  all 
that  pertained  to  the  organization  and  supply  of  the 
army.  He  was  bold,  vigorous,  and  active,  and  not 
only  promised  but  gave  me  every  assistance  in  his 
power.  At  Columbus  I  met  Governor  Dennison,  and 
at  Indianapolis  Governor  Morton.  With  such  men 
as  these  cooperating  and  supporting  the  plans  of  the 
Government,  it  was  easy  to  command  the  resources 
of  their  states  in  the  matter  of  troops  and  other 
means  for  carrying  on  war.  Morton  was  evidently 
a  more  rugged  character  than  either  Dennison  or 
Andrew.  With  less  learning  and  less  suavity  than 
either,  he  was  a  tremendous  force  and  bent  all  his 
energies  to  supporting  the  war  against  the  Con- 

343 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

federacy.  He  was  an  excellent  manipulator  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  and  by  his  strong  will  and  vigorous 
management  called  forth  the  resources  and  com- 
manded the  support  of  the  loyal  men  of  his  state. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  forced  all  sympathizers  with 
the  Eebellion  into  the  open  or  into  secret  organiza- 
tions for  giving  it  aid  and  comfort.  He  kept  a  close 
supervision  over  the  leading  officers  from  his  state 
in  the  army,  and  did  his  best  to  make  them  look  to 
him  rather  than  to  the  general  government  for  sup- 
port and  promotion.  For  this  reason  he  was  never 
altogether  popular  with  the  commanding  generals 
in  the  field.  Neither  Grant  nor  Sherman  became 
particularly  intimate  with  him,  and  it  was  with  ref- 
erence to  Albin  P.  Hovey,  one  of  the  best  of  the 
Indiana  generals,  that  Sherman  made  his  celebrated 
remark :  '  4  If  Washington  is  the  place  to  get  promo- 
tion, the  army  ought  to  change  front  on  Washing- 
ton. ' '  But,  withal,  the  Indiana  generals  were  a  vital 
and  virile  set.  Without  those  qualities  they  could 
never  have  obtained  either  the  commissions  or  the 
support  of  Morton,  and  without  Morton's  help  sev- 
eral of  them  would  have  failed  to  reach  the  rank  of 
general  officer. 

During  the  trip  west  I  ran  down  from  Louisville 
to  Nashville  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  with  Gen- 
eral Grant,  who  was  still  at  that  place  considering 
plans  for  the  future  conduct  of  the  war  in  his  mili- 
tary division.  But  it  will  be  recalled  that  immedi- 
ately after  his  success  at  Chattanooga  he  had  be- 
come the  cynosure  of  all  patriotic  eyes.  To  Don- 
aldson and  Vicksburg  he  had  now  added  Missionary 
Bidge,  thus  making  himself  the  only  entirely  suc- 
cessful general  that  the  war  had  so  far  developed, 

344 


SERVICES   IN   WASHINGTON 

which,  in  turn,  led  to  a  popular  call  for  the  creation 
of  still  higher  rank  and  the  promotion  of  Grant  to 
fill  it.  It  was  in  response  to  this  call  that  Congress 
a  few  weeks  later  revived  the  grade  of  lieutenant 
general,  which  the  President  assigned  to  Grant, 
with  the  command  of  all  our  armies. 

But  it  would  be  misleading  to  state  that  the  call 
was  instantly  complied  with.  Notwithstanding  his 
tremendous  success,  Grant  was  but  little  known  in 
Washington,  and  there  was  among  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  cabinet  and  of  the  Senate  a  lingering 
doubt  as  to  his  entire  trustworthiness.  Immedi- 
ately after  arriving  in  Washington  I  was  consulted 
by  such  senators  and  representatives  as  I  knew  or 
chanced  to  meet  in  regard  to  his  fitness  for  the  pro- 
motion and  for  the  great  power  which  it-  would 
place  in  his  hands.  Washburne,  the  member  of 
Congress  from  his  district,  was  the  most  potent  and 
aggressive  factor  in  the  scheme  of  reviving  the  lieu- 
tenant generalcy  and  giving  it  to  Grant.  He  was 
bold,  active,  and  persistent  in  advocating  the  meas- 
ure, and  was,  besides,  the  firm  friend  of  Rawlins 
and  his  close  ally  in  every  measure  for  Grant's  ad- 
vancement. I  boarded  at  the  same  house  with  him, 
and  from  the  date  of  my  arrival  gave  him  and  the 
measure  he  was  advocating  my  most  active  and 
unqualified  support.  We  conferred  about  it  in  every 
possible  aspect.  He,  of  course,  had  known  from  the 
first,  through  letters  from  Rawlins  and  through  the 
western  press,  that  a  serious  doubt  had  been  cast 
upon  Grant's  sobriety,1  but  he  also  knew  that,  with 
Rawlins'  support,  the  modest  general  had  in  no 
serious  degree  lapsed  from  that  propriety  of  con- 

1  Wilson  s  ■  ■  Life  of  Charte*  A.  Dana, ' '  p.  309  et  seq. 

345 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

duct  necessary  for  his  success.  He  knew  from 
Dana,  Rawlins,  and  myself  the  real  facts  of  his  case, 
and  that  in  no  instance  had  he  yielded  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  imperil  the  safety  of  his  army  or  the 
success  of  his  campaigns.  But  above  all  Washburne 
knew  that,  so  long  as  Rawlins  stood  by  him  as  guide, 
philosopher,  and  friend,  the  combination  would  con- 
tinue to  be  successful.  Therefore,  while  providing 
for  Grant's  promotion,  he  provided  also  for  Raw- 
lins' further  advancement  by  getting  Congress  to 
create  the  office  of  chief-of-staff  for  him.  Thus  the 
union  between  them  was  perpetuated.  Nearly  every 
writer  of  the  times  has  alluded  to  these  circum- 
stances, but  no  one  has  gone  to  the  extent  of  de- 
claring, as  was  indubitably  the  case,  that  the  whole 
question  of  Grant 's  advancement  was  decided  in  his 
favor  after  a  careful  but  informal  consideration  of 
the  facts  and  probabilities  affecting  his  personal 
habits  and  character.  I  know  whereof  I  write,  and 
that  I  am  not  mistaken,  because  every  official  in 
Washington  who  consulted  me  at  all  asked  questions 
which  left  no  doubt  in  my  mind  as  to  the  ground  of 
their  solicitude.  I  know  of  no  other  case  like  this 
in  history.  It  stands  alone,  and  it  was  decided  on 
the  probabilities  that,  as  Grant  had  been  success- 
ful with  the  support  of  those  nearest  him,  he  would 
continue  to  be  successful  so  long  as  they  continued 
to  stand  by  him.  The  sequel  showed  that  confidence 
in  him  and  them  was  not  misplaced. 

After  reaching  Washington  I  wrote  to  Rawlins, 
giving  him  the  result  of  my  observations  and  con- 
ferences from  day  to  day,  and  making  known 
through  him  to  General  Grant  the  progress  of  the 
measure  for  his  advancement.    It  became  more  and 

346 


SERVICES   IN   WASHINGTON 

more  evident  as  the  days  passed  that  Grant's  friends 
were  masters  of  the  situation,  and  that  he  could  re- 
ject his  new  rank  should  it  not  come  with  the  clear 
understanding  that  he  was  to  have  untrammeled  con- 
trol of  the  army  and  the  concurrence  and  support  of 
the  central  government.  Among  those  who  knew 
best,  the  sentiment  was  that  he  should  bring  east 
with  him  only  Eawlins,  Smith,  Bowers,  and  Badeau, 
of  the  old  staff,  and  that  he  should  take  command 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, as  soon  as  spring  operations  should  begin. 
It  was  to  explain  the  situation  at  Washington  and 
to  give  such  details  in  regard  to  the  various  cur- 
rents of  feeling  and  opinion  that  had  developed  in 
reference  to  the  measure  under  consideration  that 
I  visited  Nashville,  arriving  there  March  16,  in  the 
evening. 

I  found  General  Grant  suffering  from  chills,  but 
eager  for  all  the  news  I  could  give  him.  I  talked 
freely  with  him  and  with  Rawlins,  Bowers,  and  Ba- 
deau till  midnight  and  afterwards  with  Bowers  till 
daybreak.  I  found  them  all  deeply  impressed  with 
the  importance  of  the  changes  about  to  take  place, 
and  while  they  realized  as  fully  as  I  did  that  their 
chief  required  "the  courage  of  heroes,  the  purity 
of  angels,  and  the  omniscience  of  the  gods,"  he 
would  have  to  content  himself  with  his  natural  en- 
dowments and  the  support  of  the  friends  who  had 
stood  with  him  from  the  first.  From  Grant  down 
they  were  ready  for  the  change  and  resolved  to 
meet  it  with  unfaltering  hearts.  There  was  not  the 
slightest  show  of  doubt  in  any  of  them  that  Grant 
would  succeed. 

It  is  well  known  that  Sherman,  of  all  his  gen- 
347 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

erals,  counseled  him  not  to  remain  in  Washington 
or  to  take  command  in  the  East,  but  to  return  to  the 
Mississippi  valley  and  finish  up  the  great  work 
there,  on  the  theory  that  the  rest  of  the  country 
would  follow  the  destiny  of  that  extensive  region. 
He  evidently  doubted  Grant's  capacity  to  stand 
alone  or  to  meet  the  machinations  against  him  which 
his  new  position  would  surely  bring.  But  Rawlins 
and  Bowers,  who  were  closer  to  Grant  than  any 
others,  showed  no  sign  of  sharing  such  doubts. 
They  recognized  from  the  first  that  the  commission 
of  lieutenant  general  and  the  command  of  all  the 
loyal  armies  imposed  upon  Grant  the  inevitable  duty 
of  meeting  Lee  and  his  hitherto  invincible  army 
face  to  face,  and  of  trying  out  the  issue  with  them 
to  the  bitter  end. 

Having  told  my  story  and  satisfied  myself  as  to 
the  feelings  of  Grant  and  his  staff  as  well  as  to  the 
military  conditions  prevailing  at  Nashville,  I  re- 
turned to  Washington  as  rapidly  as  possible,  where 
I  made  known  to  Washburne,  Dana,  and  others  the" 
feelings  I  had  found  at  Grant's  headquarters. 

As  before  intimated,  I  took  but  little  interest  in 
social  matters  during  that  winter  in  Washington. 
Shortly  after  arriving  there,  I  had  been  invited  to 
dine  at  the  White  House  and  to  accompany  the  Pres- 
ident and  his  family  to  the  theater.  It  was  a  new 
experience  for  me,  and  one  of  mingled  emotions. 
The  President  was  kindness  itself  and  seemed  to 
know  without  explanations  that  I  was  the  son  of  his 
old  friend,  Harrison  Wilson,  of  the  Black  Hawk 
War.  He  told  me  many  anecdotes  and  asked  me  a 
good  many  questions.  Among  the  rest  he  wanted  to 
know  about  the  Generals,  Crooke  and  Stoughton, 

348 


SERVICES    IN   WASHINGTON 

who  had  recently  been  captured  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley  while  visiting  ladies  outside  their  camp.  It 
so  happened  that  I  knew  both  quite  well,  and  was 
enabled  to  assure  the  President  that  they  were  good 
officers,  and  that  such  an  accident  might  readily 
overtake  any  one  in  that  region.  It  was  upon  this 
occasion  that  he  said:  "I  don't  care  so  much  for 
brigadiers ;  I  can  make  them.  But  horses  and  mules 
cost  money." 

Directly  after  the  passage  of  the  bill  reviving  the 
grade  of  lieutenant  general,  Grant  came  to  Wash- 
ington to  confer  with  the  President  and  receive  his 
new  commission.  On  this  trip,  he  was  accompanied 
by  Rawlins  and  Mrs.  Grant,  and  on  their  arrival 
I  called  to  pay  my  respects.  I  found  the  party  well 
pleased  with  their  reception,  but  unable  or  unwill- 
ing to  accept  social  invitations  from  even  those  in 
highest  authority.  The  Lieutenant  General  was 
necessarily  busy  informing  himself  as  to  the  condi- 
tion of  affairs  in  Virginia.  As  I  recall  it,  he  and 
Mrs.  Grant  had  been  expected  to  dine  at  the  White 
House,  but,  as  the  General  was  delayed  in  getting 
back  to  Washington  from  Fort  Monroe,  Mrs.  Grant 
asked  me  to  call  and  explain  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  that 
they  would  not  be  able  to  keep  their  engagement. 
Upon  that  occasion  I  was  again  invited  to  dine,  and 
go  to  the  theater,  and,  of  course,  the  invitation  was 
equivalent  to  a  command. 

After  dinner  we  went  to  the  theater  and,  while 
seated  in  the  President's  box,  he  told  me  between 
the  acts  a  great  many  characteristic  anecdotes,  but 
made  no  allusion  to  public  affairs.  Now  and  then, 
for  an  instant,  his  countenance  seemed  "sicklied 
o'er  with  a  pale  cast  of  thought,"  like  a  peaceful 

349 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

landscape  shadowed  by  passing  clouds,  but  on  the 
whole  he  looked  brighter  and  more  cheerful  than 
usual.  He  did  not  disguise  the  relief  he  felt  at  hav- 
ing at  last  found  a  leader  for  the  army  with  the 
prestige  and  habit  of  success.  This,  more  than  any- 
thing else,  lifted  a  great  load  from  his  mind,  but, 
withal,  it  was  evident  that  he  was  still  wearied  and 
weighed  down  by  the  cares  of  his  great  office  and 
that  he  sought  relief  in  the  play  before  him.  I 
was  struck  that  night  by  the  gravity  of  his  counte- 
nance in  contrast  with  the  extraordinary  mobility 
of  his  lips  and  tongue  and  the  clear  and  rapid  enun- 
ciation they  gave  to  his  words.  Something  in  the 
play  caused  him  to  turn  to  me  and  imitate  the  low 
and  plaintive  "ba-a-a"  of  a  lamb,  which  he  did  with 
singular  accuracy  and  effect. 

It  was  about  that  time,  while  walking  out  with 
Ward  Lamon,  the  herculean  marshal,  that  a  Con- 
federate sympathizer  had  stopped  them,  and,  grasp- 
ing the  President's  hand,  wrung  it  till  he  cried  out 
with  pain.  As  it  was  not  the  first  time  that  he  had 
received  such  greetings  under  the  guise  of  friend- 
ship, nor  that  Lamon  had  witnessed  it,  the  latter, 
with  the  fist  of  a  gladiator,  delivered  a  blow  straight 
in  the  ruffian's  face  and  felled  him  to  the  ground. 
In  sorrow  for  the  poor  devil,  who  hardly  knew  what 
had  struck  him,  Lincoln  gazed  sadly  upon  his  pros- 
trate form  and  said:  "For  God's  sake,  Ward,  give 
the  man  a  chance !  The  next  time  you  hit  him,  hit 
him  with  an  axe  handle ! ' ' 

I  saw  the  President  several  times  after  that 
night,  but  the  injunction  to  "give  the  man  a 
chance,"  followed  by  an  unconscious  light  on  his 
countenance,  not  only  brought  this  anecdote  to  my 

350 


SERVICES    IN   WASHINGTON 

mind,  but  recalled  the  familiar  scene  at  the  frontier 
town  where  the  storekeeper  habitually  kept  behind 
the  door  a  hickory  axe  handle  ready  on  a  moment's 
notice  as  the  last  argument  with  the  ruffian  who 
had  drunk  too  much  and  could  not  be  got  rid  of 
without  a  breach  of  the  peace. 

The  contrast  between  Lincoln's  life  at  New 
Salem  on  the  Sangamon  River,  where  he  cleaned  out 
the  Clary's  grove  gang  in  a  bout  at  fisticuffs,  and 
his  life  in  Washington,  where  he  was  struggling  as 
Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation  to  overthrow  the 
greatest  rebellion  of  modern  times,  well  illustrates 
the  opposite  ends  of  our  civilization  and  presents 
as  strange  a  chapter  as  can  be  found  in  the  annals 
of  the  human  race. 

I  attended  but  one  reception  at  the  White  House. 
Mr.  Lincoln,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  took  position 
in  what  was  then  known  as  the  Red  Room,  with  a 
few  invited  guests  behind,  and,  as  the  procession 
passed  two  by  two,  he  listlessly  grasped  their  ex- 
tended hands  and  passed  them  on  without  a  word. 
Occasionally  a  man  and  his  wife  more  distinguished 
than  the  rest  would  be  pulled  over  by  an  attend- 
ant to  join  the  guests  behind  the  President.  I  and 
my  friends  had  this  honor,  and  we  found  a  few  ac- 
quaintances who  were  enjoying  it  with  us.  But  the 
whole  meeting  seemed  pervaded  by  a  sense  of  duty 
mingled  with  curiosity  rather  than  by  a  spirit  of 
enjoyment.  The  President's  gloves  were  far  too 
large,  and  this  was  doubtless  a  matter  of  choice  to 
enable  him  to  get  them  on  and  off  easily  and  to  dis- 
courage the  hearty  handshake  that  was  so  prevalent 
both  with  the  friends  and  the  enemies  of  that  illus- 
trious man. 

351 


UNDER   THE    OLD    FLAG 

I  also  attended  a  ball  at  a  private  banker's,  then 
one  of  the  leaders  of  fashion  in  the  Federal  city. 
It  was  a  brilliant  affair.  The  music  was  beautiful 
and  the  ladies  charmingly  dressed,  according  to  the 
fashion  of  the  day,  but  the  pleasure  of  the  occasion 
was  marred  for  me  in  a  most  unexpected  manner. 
The  party  I  accompanied  was  composed  of  a  field 
officer  of  engineers,  his  wife,  and  two  young  ladies, 
and  I  was  authorized  to  bring  with  me  a  captain 
who  was  convalescing  from  a  painful  wound.  Be- 
fore the  dancing  began  our  party  divided  into  cou- 
ples and  within  a  few  minutes  after  we  began  cir- 
culating I  observed  a  commotion  in  the  larger  recep- 
tion room.  Pushing  my  way  through  the  excited 
guests  I  found  my  friend,  the  captain,  extended  on 
three  chairs  in  a  faint,  gasping  for  breath  and  suf- 
fering from  the  heat.  Making  my  way  to  his  side, 
and  seeing  that  he  was  in  a  state  of  collapse,  it 
occurred  to  me  that  he  might  be  revived  by  a  glass 
of  punch,  which  I  made  haste  to  take  from  the  punch 
bowl  near  at  hand.*  He  swallowed  it  with  unex- 
pected avidity  and  then,  with  a  languid  upward 
look,  said :  i  [  More, " '  whereupon  I  gave  him  another, 
which  he  received  in  the  same  manner  and  swal- 
lowed with  a  similar  result.  Again  he  called  for 
more.  Thinking  that  his  position  was  not  suitable 
for  further  refreshment  of  that  sort,  assisted  by  a 
couple  of  the  gentlemen,  I  carried  him  out  to  a  back 
piazza,  where  we  found  a  swinging  hammock.  Lift- 
ing him  in  it,  I  began  further  investigation.  Sev- 
eral bystanders  pressed  in  to  assist,  but,  thinking 
my  friend  was  suffering  from  nothing  worse  than 
heat  and  possibly  his  wound,  I  pushed  them  aside, 
remarking  to  one  who  asked  if  I  were  a  medical 

352 


SERVICES   IN  WASHINGTON 

man :  ! '  No,  but  I  think  I  can  handle  this  case. ' '  But 
the  harder  I  strove  to  restore  my  friend  the  less  I 
succeeded  in  doing  so.  One  of  the  gentlemen  there- 
upon asked  if  I  knew  who  the  elderly  person  was  I 
had  pushed  aside.  When  I  said  I  had  never  seen 
him  before,  the  gentleman  replied :  ' '  That  was  Doc- 
tor Blank,  the  most  distinguished  medical  practi- 
tioner of  this  city."  Eealizing  at  once  that  I  had 
made  a  mistake,  I  sought  and  found  the  Doctor  en- 
joying himself  as  though  nothing  had  happened. 
I  made  a  humble  apology,  confessing  that  the  case 
appeared  to  be  too  complicated  for  anyone  except  a 
doctor,  and  begging  him  to  come  again  to  my 
friend's  assistance.  This  he  did  in  the  most  amiable 
manner,  and,  after  feeling  his  pulse,  lifting  his  eye- 
lid, auscultating  his  chest  and  applying  all  the  other 
proper  tests,  I  noted  a  gentle  smile  about  the  cor- 
ners of  his  mouth,  immediately  after  which  he 
looked  up  and  said :  1 ■  You  should  put  your  friend 
to  bed.  He  will  be  better  to-morrow.  He  is  simply 
drunk.'  '  Whereupon,  in  astonishment,  I  remarked 
that  it  could  not  be  possible.  The  Doctor  at  once 
rejoined:  "Oh,  yes,  General,  drunk;  very  drunk, 
indeed."  And  this  ended  the  discussion,  and  closed 
the  incident. 

While  I  remained  in  Washington  one  most  im- 
portant matter  affecting  the  public  welfare  was 
sifted  to  the  bottom.  A  correspondent  who  had 
opportunities  through  his  association  with  states- 
men and  newspaper  men  to  know  what  was  going  on 
in  the  East  had  written  me  early  in  1863  that  great 
discontentment  prevailed  in  regard  to  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  failure  of  its  efforts  to  suppress  the 
rebellion.    This  discontentment  showed  itself  in  sev- 

353 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

eral  ways.  A  group  of  congressmen,  fully  con- 
vinced that  Lincoln  and  his  cabinet  were  unequal  to 
the  task  before  them,  concocted  a  scheme,  with  vari- 
ous ramifications,  to  elect  a  stronger  man  for  Presi- 
dent, and  this  scheme  was  still  on.  The  same  group, 
with  allies  among  the  governors,  were  strongly 
prejudiced  against  Stanton  and  threatened  to  with- 
hold their  support  from  the  Government  unless  he 
were  expelled  from  the  War  Department  and  Hal- 
leck  relieved  as  general-in-chief.  But  our  late  suc- 
cesses in  the  West  had  greatly  discouraged  this  com- 
bination. Another  group  of  which  a  political  major 
general  was  the  center  felt  that  a  different  and  far 
more  drastic  remedy  should  be  resorted  to.  It  was 
believed  by  many  that  this  group  was  plotting  the 
overthrow  of  the  Government  and  the  establishment 
of  a  dictatorship  of  which  the  major  general  should 
be  either  the  head  or  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  that 
the  first  business  would  be  to  lead  the  army  to 
Washington  and  turn  the  President  and  his  cabi- 
net out  of  office.  With  this  done,  affairs  were  to  be 
carried  on  by  the  dictator,  and  the  war  was  to  be 
thereafter  conducted  in  a  more  scientific  and  vigor- 
ous manner.  But  again  military  success  in  the  West 
also  put  this  scheme  to  confusion  and  instead  of 
usurpation  and  a  dictatorship  of  the  vulgar  sort, 
substantially  the  same  end  was  to  be  accomplished 
by  the  act  of  Congress  creating  the  grade  of  lieu- 
tenant general  and  the  assignment  of  Grant  to  that 
rank,  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to  have 
full  powers,  subject  only  to  the  supreme  command 
of  the  President  and  the  constituted  authorities. 
The  underlying  idea  of  this  legislation  was  undoubt- 
edly to  give  the  new  and  successful  commander  com- 

354 


SERVICES   IN   WASHINGTON 

plete  control  and  at  the  same  time,  without  saying 
so  directly,  to  restrict  the  functions  and  activities 
of  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  War  to  sup- 
plying men,  money,  and  material  for  carrying  on  the 
struggle,  while  the  actual  work  in  the  field  should 
be  supervised  by  the  new  general-in-chief,  and  all 
subordinate  army  commanders  should  take  their 
orders  and  carry  on  their  operations  solely  under 
his  direction. 

Notwithstanding  the  particulars,  which  reached 
me  from  time  to  time,  both  while  in  Washington 
and  before  I  went  there,  I  always  felt  that  the  con- 
spiracies to  which  I  have  alluded  were  more  or  less 
fictitious,  but  I  am  now  persuaded  that  for  a  while 
at  least  they  were  promoted  by  various  elements  of 
discontent  in  and  out  of  Congress,  as  well  as  in  and 
out  of  the  army*  Fortunately,  the  lieutenant  gen- 
eralcy  was  not  only  a  constitutional  but  an  emi- 
nently practical  solution  of  the  country's  more 
pressing  difficulties.  Knowing  the  modesty,  patriot- 
ism, and  unquestioning  sense  of  subordination  which 
controlled  Grant  in  all  his  actions,  and  feeling  as- 
sured that  the  men  and  influences  surrounding  him 
would  be  managed  if  not  dominated  hereafter  as 
heretofore  by  his  strong,  aggressive,  and  patriotic 
chief-of-staff,  I  had  no  sort  of  doubt  that  the  entire 
army  would  be  confined  henceforth  to  the  duty  of 
sustaining  the  civil  government  in  all  its  branches, 
while  it  would  be  called  upon  to  put  forth  at  the 
same  time  its  best  efforts  to  overthrow  and  sup- 
press the  slaveholders'  rebellion.  The  country  ac- 
cepted this  plan  as  a  happy  solution  of  its  most 
pressing  difficulties,  and  for  the  immediate  future 
gave  but  little  heed  to  illegal  and  quixotic  schemes 

355 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

for  getting  control  of  the  Government.  This  view  of 
the  matter  was  loyally  accepted  by  the  leading  news- 
papers as  well  as  by  the  leading  congressmen  and 
governors,  and  the  new  era  began  with  an  immediate 
restoration  of  hope  and  confidence  in  which  I  fully 
shared.  While  the  new  plans  necessarily  developed 
themselves  but  slowly,  the  measures,  as  they  became 
known,  relieved  my  mind  of  all  apprehension,  and 
when  the  hour  came  to  give  up  my  office  in  Wash- 
ington and  to  rejoin  Grant  in  the  field  I  went  most 
willingly  and  with  every  confidence  that  both  the 
civil  and  military  crises  had  been  successfully 
passed  and  that  the  Government  provided  for  in 
the  Constitution  would  surely  and  within  a  reason- 
able time  triumph  over  all  its  enemies  and  op- 
posers  whomsoever. 


356 


XIV 

COMMANDING  THIRD  CAVALRY  DIVISION 

General  plan  of  campaign — Report  to  Meade — Relieve  Kil- 
patrick — Confirmation  delayed — Spencer  carbines — 
Position  of  opposing  armies. 

The  Lieutenant  General's  plan  for  the  spring 
campaign  was  not  only  most  resolute,  but  as  simple 
and  direct  as  it  was  wise.  Lee's  army  was  the  objec- 
tive of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Major  General 
George  G.  Meade  was  in  immediate  command,  reen- 
forced  by  the  Ninth  Corps  under  Burnside,  all  under 
the  personal  supervision  of  General  Grant.  '  \  Wher- 
ever Lee  goes  there  you  will  go  also,"  summarized 
his  terse  instructions  to  Meade.  As  aid  to  this  ag- 
gressive forward  movement  against  the  main  army 
of  the  Confederacy  under  command  of  its  greatest 
general,  Grant  had  also  the  Army  of  the  James, 
twenty-three  thousand  men,  under  Major  General 
Benjamin  F.  Butler,  composed  of  Butler's  own 
troops  and  those  of  Major  General  Quincy  A.  Gill- 
more,  from  the  south  Atlantic  coast.  This  army, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  Major  General 
William  Farrar  Smith,  was  ordered  to  operate  on 
the  south  side  of  the  James,  with  Bichmond  for  its 
objective.  The  armies  of  Meade  and  Butler  were 
to  become  a  unit  in  the  event  of  the  success  of  the 

357 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

latter  in  forcing  the  enemy  into  the  entrenchments 
of  Eichmond.  Cooperative  offensive  action  of  all 
our  armies  in  the  field,  east  or  west,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, was  provided  for  and  insisted  upon.  Especially 
important  as  an  aid  of  the  principal  movements 
against  Lee  and  Eichmond,  respectively,  was  the 
march  against  Lynchburg  and  the  Tennessee  and 
Virginia  Eailroad  to  be  made  by  a  column  of  ten 
thousand  or  twelve  thousand  men  moving  out  from 
Beverly  under  Major  General  E.  O.  C.  Ord,  and  an- 
other column,  principally  cavalry,  moving  in  con- 
cert from  Charlestown,  West  Virginia,  under  Major 
General  George  Crook.  It  will  be  observed  that 
Grant,  as  was  characteristic  and  proper,  reserved 
to  himself  much  the  hardest  job.  The  campaign 
began  early  in  May,  1864,  and  was  pressed  with 
varying  fortunes  not  only  through  the  spring  but 
"all  summer,"  and  until  the  successful  end,  about 
one  year  later,  at  Appomattox.  From  various 
causes,  chiefly  Lee's  generalship,  which  was  fore- 
seen, but  largely  from  the  inefficiency  and  lack  of 
cooperation  among  his  own  subordinates,  which,  if 
foreseen,  could  not  be  adequately  reckoned  with  in 
advance,  Grant,  in  his  initial  eastern  campaign, 
met  with  many  cruel,  almost  heartbreaking,  losses 
and  disappointments.  Men  cast  in  a  less  sturdy 
mold  would  have  yielded,  and  turned  back  in  defeat 
as  did  all  his  predecessors.  But  to  every  reverse 
and  failure  he  opposed  an  iron  obstinacy  and  stead- 
iness of  purpose,  ever  resolutely  and  increasingly 
greater  with  the  failures  and  obstacles  to  be  over- 
come.1 

My  part  in  this  epoch-making  campaign,  while 

1 0.  K.  Serial  No.  60,  pp.  758,  794,  798,  803,  827-9,  1017. 
358 


THIED    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

relatively  unimportant,  was,  nevertheless,  shaped  in 
accordance  with  the  immediate  personal  wishes  and 
direction  of  General  Grant.  On  the  28th  of  March, 
1864,  shortly  after  he  took  the  field,  he  wrote  Hal- 
leck  from  Culpeper  Court  House,  Virginia,  saying, 
among  other  things : 

I  think  General  Wilson  should  be  relieved  from  duty 
in  the  Cavalry  Bureau  as  soon  as  it  is  possible  to  find  an 
officer  to  succeed  him.  I  cannot  suggest  an  officer  to  take 
his  place.1 

On  April  6  he  telegraphed  Halleck : 

Is  General  Wilson  to  come  here  ?  If  he  can  be  spared 
from  the  Cavalry  Bureau,  he  is  much  wanted  to  command 
a  cavalry  division.  I  would  like  to  know  the  decision  of 
the  Secretary  of  War  in  this  matter  as  soon  as  possible, 
so  that  the  cavalry  command  can  be  arranged.2 

To  which  Halleck  replied  next  day: 

General  Wilson  has  been  relieved  and  directed  to  re- 
port to  the  Lieutenant  General  for  assignment  to  duty.3 

It  is  also  an  interesting  and  strange  coincidence 
in  my  fairly  eventful  career  that  while  the  fall  be- 
fore, about  the  time  Grant  was  urging  my  promo- 
tion to  brigadier  general  to  command  cavalry,  and 
Eosecrans  was  asking  my  detail  to  command  an  en- 
gineer regiment,  Major  General  Butler,  command- 
ing the  Department  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina, 
without  my  knowledge  or  concurrence  wired  Gen- 
eral Grant: 

Don't  think  me  importunate,  but  for  the  good  of 
the  service  can  you  not  send  me  Brigadier  General  J.  H. 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  60,  p.  753. 
8  lb.,  p.  809. 
8Zb.,  pp.  815-816. 

359 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Wilson,  now  of  the  Cavalry  Bureau,  as  chief  of  cavalry, 
to  lead  our  expedition  ?  x 

The  next  day  General  Grant  ordered  me  to  re- 
port without  delay  to  Major  General  Meade,  com- 
manding the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  for  duty,  and 
on  the  same  day  General  Butler  renewed,  without 
result,  his  preference  for  me  to  command  his  cav- 
alry.2 Having  in  no  way  sought  to  influence  either 
Grant  or  Butler,  I  assume  that  the  latter,  with  whom 
I  had  but  slight  personal  acquaintance,  was  inspired 
by  my  friend,  Major  General  W.  F.  Smith,  to  single 
me  out  and  request  my  assignment  to  service  as 
above.  It  was  a  curious  episode  in  my  life,  and, 
looking  back  upon  it  after  a  half  century,  it  is  per- 
haps not  immodest  in  me  to  say  that  what  Smith, 
notwithstanding  his  conceded  great  ability  and  Gen- 
eral Grant  's  confidence  in  him,  found  himself  under 
the  Butler  handicap  utterly  unable  to  do,  we,  to- 
gether, working  as  at  Chattanooga,  as  one  man 
might  possibly  have  done.  We  should  have  had  my 
old  friend,  Gillmore's,  loyal  help  and  cooperation, 
and,  putting  my  more  youthful  energy  and  enthu- 
siam  into  the  scale,  along  with  the  wisdom  and  vet- 
eran experience  of  two  such  capable  soldiers  as 
Smith  and  Gillmore,  it  is  conceivable  and  at  least 
possible,  if  not  probable,  that  we  three  might  have 
overcome  not  only  Butler's  utter  lack  of  military 
skill,  but  the  resistance  of  the  enemy  as  well,  and 
so  have  realized  General  Grant's  hope  early  in  the 
campaign,  that  the  enemy,  as  the  result  of  the  oper- 
ations on  the  James  and  those  under  his  immediate 
personal   direction,  might   be   forced  into   the  in- 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  60,  pp.  850,  851,  Butler  to  Grant,  April  12. 
'lb.,  p.  862,  Butler  to  Grant,  April  13,  1864. 

360 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

trenchments  of  Eichmond,  where  assuredly  Grant 
might  have  repeated  his  success  of  Vicksburg. 

It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  importance 
of  thorough  personal  touch,  mutual  confidence,  and 
loyal  cooperation  between  the  leading  officers  of  any 
army.  This  lack  of  it  in  the  army  of  the  James  was 
most  unfortunate  in  its  personal  consequences  and 
in  its  influence  upon  the  success  of  the  campaign. 
Initial  success  on  the  James  and  at  Petersburg 
might  have  changed  the  whole  course  of  history. 
But  it  was  not  to  come  at  that  time. 

During  my  stay  in  Washington  I  kept  in  close 
touch  with  Grant's  headquarters  through  personal 
correspondence  with  Eawlins,  Smith,  and  Bowers, 
and  an  occasional  letter  to  the  General  himself, 
and  this  custom  continued,  as  opportunity  permit- 
ted, to  the  end  of  the  war.  After  Grant  became 
lieutenant  general  and  took  the  field  in  Virginia, 
my  list  of  correspondents  at  his  headquarters  was 
enlarged  to  include  Porter,  Babcock,  and  Badeau, 
and  it  is  from  that  correspondence,  supplemented 
by  my  reports  and  diaries,  that  I  have  drawn  largely 
for  the  dates  and  facts  in  this  narrative. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  shortly  after  Grant  came 
east  he  sent  for  Sheridan,  who  had  greatly  dis- 
tinguished himself  with  his  division  of  infantry 
at  Missionary  Ridge,  and  gave  him  command  of  the 
cavalry  corps  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  turn, 
as  soon  as  it  could  be  arranged,  he  relieved  Kilpat- 
rick,  at  his  own  request,  from  further  duty  with  the 
corps  and  sent  him  west,  while  he  transferred  Mer- 
ritt,  Custer,  and  Davies  to  other  brigades  so  as  to 
make  way  for  my  formal  assignment  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Third  Division.   Although  Merritt  was 

361 


UNDER   THE    OLD    FLAG 

below  me  in  class  standing  and  Kilpatrick  and  Cus- 
ter came  out  a  year  later,  while  Davies  was  from 
the  Volunteers,  each  of  them  got  his  general's  star 
a  few  months  before  I  did.  In  short,  they  out- 
ranked me  as  brigadiers,  and  this  made  the  changes 
noted  above  necessary  in  order  to  give  me  command 
of  a  division.  As  my  services  had  been  confined 
so  far  to  the  staff  and  to  the  War  Department,  my 
assignment  to  the  command  of  a  division,  under 
the  circumstances,  gave  particular  offense  to  my 
seniors  of  the  line  and  led  to  hard  feelings  and  com- 
plications which  were  not  without  influence  in  the 
cavalry  operations  and  which  did  not  entirely  dis- 
appear till  I  was  relieved  from  duty  with  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  and  sent  west  to  reorganize  and  com- 
mand the  cavalry  of  Sherman's  armies.1  It  was  as- 
sumed, perhaps  naturally  enough,  by  those  con- 
cerned that  I  had  overslaughed  them  through  per- 
sonal influence  and  solicitation,  but  nothing  could 
have  been  further  from  the  fact.  In  that  matter, 
at  least,  the  Lieutenant  General  acted  entirely  on 
his  own  judgment,  without  consulting  me  in  any  way 
whatever,  and,  without  reference  to  the  precise  rea- 
sons for  the  selection,  he  is  entitled  to  all  the  praise 
and  equally  to  all  the  blame  for  my  assignment  as 
well  as  for  Sheridan's. 

But  a  further  word  of  explanation  may  be  inter- 
esting. It  will  be  remembered  that  the  cavalry  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  at  that  time  resting 
under  some  discredit.  Although  it  had  been  organ- 
ized by  Stoneman,  a  distinguished  cavalryman 
of  the  old  army,  and  was  afterwards  commanded 
by  Pleasanton,  also  an  officer  of  good  reputation, 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  60,  pp.  753,  809,  862,  872,  881,  893. 

362 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

it  had  as  yet  achieved  no  marked  superiority  over 
the  Confederate  cavalry.  Both  Stoneman  and  Pleas- 
anton  had  met  Stuart  with  varying  fortunes.  If 
anything,  Stuart  was  regarded  as  having  shown 
superior  enterprise  and  ability  both  in  action  and 
in  the  raids  he  had  conducted,  so  that  when  Sheridan 
took  command  it  was  generally  understood  that  the 
prestige  of  the  Confederate  was  greater  than  that 
of  the  National  cavalry.  This,  it  was  conceived, 
made  necessary  and  fully  justified  the  importation 
of  new  blood  and  the  assignment  of  new  officers  to 
command  the  cavalry  corps  and  its  First  and  Third 
Divisions.  Torbert  was  brought  over  from  the  in- 
fantry with  a  reputation  for  courage,  steadiness, 
and  dash,  and,  without  dwelling  on  details,  the  re- 
sults achieved,  although  not  marked  by  unbroken 
success,  may  be  considered  as  having  justified  the 
changes. 

In  behalf  of  both  Stoneman  and  Pleasanton  it 
may  be  fairly  claimed  that  their  failure  was  due 
rather  to  the  way  in  which  the  cavalry  was  scat- 
tered and  overworked  by  those  from  whom  they 
took  their  orders  than  from  any  shortcomings  of 
their  own.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  disasters 
which  occurred  and  the  mistakes  which  were  made 
by  Sheridan  were  due  generally  to  the  same  causes, 
and  particularly  to  the  manner  in  which  the  cav- 
alry corps  was  upon  certain  important  occasions 
broken  into  detachments  and  sent  on  eccentric  move- 
ments by  General  Grant.  All  this  will  appear  more 
fully  in  the  course  of  this  narrative. 

Meanwhile  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  William 
Farrar  Smith,  Sheridan,  and  I  were  the  only  gen- 
eral officers  Grant  brought  from  the  West  to  com- 

363 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

mand  troops  who  had  ever  been  with  him  in  battle 
or  knew  anything  from  personal  observation  as  to 
his  methods  of  conducting  warfare.  Smith  had 
been  with  him  a  few  weeks  at  Chattanooga ;  Sheri- 
dan had  served  under  his  eyes  at  Corinth  and  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  while  Burnside  had  commanded 
in  east  Tennessee.  Ord,  who  joined  later,  had 
served  in  the  Vicksburg  Campaign.  I  had  been  on 
his  staff  during  the  period  of  his  greatest  glory, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  in  northern 
Mississippi  to  the  end  of  the  campaign  at  Chatta- 
nooga. It  seems  but  natural,  therefore,  that  he 
should  want  a  few  officers  whom  he  knew  person- 
ally, and  in  whom  he  had  confidence,  both  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  and  in  the  Army  of  the  James. 
Before  leaving  this  subject,  it  may  be  well  to 
state  that  in  General  David  McM.  Gregg,  who  com- 
manded the  Second  Division,  the  cavalry  had  one  of 
its  very  best  officers.  He  had  always  belonged  to 
that  branch  of  the  service,  and  was  noted  for  ster- 
ling ability  and  great  experience.  Steady  as  a  clock 
and  as  gallant  as  Murat,  it  has  been  often  said  that 
he  was  the  best  all-' round  cavalry  officer  that  ever 
commanded  a  division  in  either  army.  Somewhat 
lacking  in  enthusiasm  and  possibly  in  aggressive 
temper,  he  was  a  man  of  unusual  modesty,  but  of 
far  more  than  usual  capacity.  He  had  done  splen- 
did service  wherever  called  upon  and  especially  in 
the  command  of  the  cavalry  at  Gettysburg,  but  for 
some  reason  not  easy  to  define  he  had  not  impressed 
himself  sufficiently  upon  his  immediate  commanders 
to  secure  the  position  which  was  given  to  Sheridan. 
He  outranked  Torbert,  Merritt,  Custer,  and  Wilson, 
and,  whenever  they  came  together,  necessarily  had 

364 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

command  over  them.  While  he  always  acquitted 
himself  with  marked  ability  and  credit,  it  must  al- 
ways remain  a  question  whether  he  would  have  done 
as  well  as  Sheridan  in  command  of  the  cavalry 
corps.  He  did  not  serve  through  to  the  end  of  the 
war,  but  after  participating  in  all  the  cavalry  en- 
gagements in  the  campaign  against  Lee  he  resigned 
his  commission  and  left  the  service  early  in  Febru- 
ary, 1865.  Whether  this  was  due  to  pique  or  to  dis- 
appointment, he  was  always  too  proud  to  explain. 
But  whatever  may  have  been  the  real  cause  it  is  due 
him  to  add  that  it  cost  the  army  in  its  closing  cam- 
paign the  services  of  a  most  gallant  and  useful  offi- 
cer, whose  superb  figure,  knightly  bearing,  and  per- 
fect self-possession  won  the  admiration  of  his  com- 
panions in  arms  and  secured  for  him  the  reputation 
of  a  soldier  "sans  peur  et  sans  reproche." 

On  my  way  to  the  front  I  stopped  over  at  Cul- 
peper  Court  House  to  pay  my  respects  to  Generals 
Grant,  Meade,  and  Sheridan,  and  had  a  flattering 
reception  from  all.  After  receiving  my  assignment 
to  command  the  Third  Cavalry  Division,  I  spent  a 
few  hours  with  Grant's  staff.  While  there  I  re- 
ceived the  gratifying  information  from  Eawlins, 
confirmed  before  I  left  by  Mrs.  Grant,  who  was 
spending  a  few  days  with  the  General,  that  he  had 
reserved  a  place  for  me  on  the  staff  with  the  rank 
of  lieutenant  colonel  to  provide  for  the  contingency 
of  my  nonconfirmation  by  the  Senate  as  brigadier 
general.  Up  to  that  date,  although  we  had  been  ap- 
pointed the  year  before,  that  august  body  had  with- 
held its  consent  and  approval  to  the  advancement  of 
both  Rawlins  and  myself.  As  we  were  staff  officers 
neither  of  whom  had  yet  commanded  troops,  our 

365 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

friends,  notwithstanding  the  tremendous  influence 
of  the  lieutenant  general,  had  what  afterwards  came 
to  be  recognized  as  a  well-grounded  doubt  as  to  our 
confirmation.  Congress  in  the  exercise  of  its  dis- 
cretion had  with  doubtful  wisdom  limited  the  num- 
ber of  general  officers  that  could  be  appointed  by 
the  President,  and  the  Senate  had  still  further  cur- 
tailed his  authority  by  closely  scrutinizing  the  serv- 
ices and  merits  of  those  whose  names  were  sent  be- 
fore it  for  its  consent  and  approval.  But  up  to  that 
time  neither  of  us  gave  much  thought  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  that  body  toward  us.  Both,  I  may  truth- 
fully say,  were  much  more  interested  in  the  work 
we  might  have  to  do  than  in  the  rank  or  the  pay  we 
might  get  for  it,  and  yet  it  was  most  gratifying  to 
know  that  the  man  mainly  responsible  for  our  pro- 
motion amid  the  sea  of  cares  which  surrounded  him 
had  not  forgotten  to  provide  suitable  place  and  rank 
for  our  future  services. 

It  turned  out,  however,  that  both  our  names  were 
hung  up  in  the  Senate  somewhat  indefinitely,  and 
while  both  finally  received  favorable  consideration 
mine  was  lost  between  the  Military  Committee  room 
and  the  engrossing  clerk's  office  after  official  notice 
of  confirmation  had  been  sent  by  Stanton  to  Grant, 
and  by  Grant  to  me.  Fortunately,  through  Grant's 
intercession,  my  name  was  sent  again  without  delay 
to  the  Senate  for  confirmation  to  take  effect  from 
the  date  of  my  original  appointment.  In  due  course 
it  was  again  favorably  acted  upon  and  this  fact  was 
finally  certified  by  the  issuance  of  the  proper  com- 
mission. 

I  had  naturally  assumed  that  my  name  was  lost 
in  the  first  instance  through  the  procurement  of  the 

366 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

defaulting  horse  contractors  whom  I  had  caused  to 
be  arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  who  had  promptly 
sworn  vengeance  against  me.  But  as  I  was  leaving 
for  the  West  six  months  later,  under  a  new  assign- 
ment, I  was  pained  and  surprised  to  receive  a  vol- 
untary statement  from  an  officer  concerned  that  he 
and  another,  whom  I  had  superseded,  had  in  anger 
and  resentment  induced  the  Senate  Committee's 
clerk  to  drop  my  name  in  the  shuffle  and  confusion, 
which  always  more  or  less  certainly  occur  at  the 
end  of  the  session.  The  officer  in  question  showed 
every  evidence  of  shame  at  the  part  he  had  taken 
"to  get  even  with  me,"  as  he  expressed  it,  and  vol- 
unteered to  go  West  and  serve  under  me  to  show 
that  he  was  not  only  not  inspired  by  malevolence  but 
was  anxious  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  make  full  repa- 
ration for  the  wrong  he  would  have  done  me.  While 
this  manly,  but  surprising,  speech  explained  and 
made  clear  other  incidents  of  the  past  six  months, 
it  fortunately  enabled  me  to  assure  him  that  I  had 
used  no  influence  whatever  to  secure  my  preferment, 
and  that  as  I  had  received  no  permanent  injury  at 
his  hands  I  had  nothing  to  forgive.  I  need  not  add 
that  we  parted  better  friends  than  we  had  ever  been 
and  that,  as  he  was  withal  a  gallant  officer  in  whose 
good  faith  I  had  no  sort  of  doubt,  I  shortly  after- 
wards made  official  application  that  he,  with  sev- 
eral others,  might  be  sent  to  assist  in  the  great  work 
I  had  been  detailed  to  undertake.  Although  this  re- 
quest was  not  granted,  and  we  were  never  thrown 
together  again,  we  remained  good  friends  to  the  end 
of  his  brilliant  career. 

On  Sunday,  April  17,  1864,  I  rode  from  Cul- 
peper   Court   House  to    Stevensburg,   in   front   of 

367 


UNDER    THB;OLD    FLAG 

which  the  Third  Cavalry  Division  held  position,  and 
immediately  assumed  command.  Before  leaving 
Grant's  headquarters,  the  General  showed  me  the 
telegram  from  General  Butler  already  quoted,  re- 
questing that  I  be  assigned  to  command  the  cavalry 
attached  to  the  Army  of  the  James.  This  was  quite 
a  surprise,  for,  although  I  had  met  General  Butler 
while  serving  as  an  engineer  officer  at  Port  Eoyal 
as  he  was  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans,  I  had,  as  be- 
fore stated,  but  little  acquaintance  with  him  and 
none  from  which  he  could  have  known  anything  of 
my  capacity  to  command  cavalry.  I  was  much  flat- 
tered by  his  request,  but  always  attributed  it  to  the 
suggestion  of  General  Smith  or  of  Colonel  Turner, 
both  regular  officers,  with  whom  I  was  intimate, 
rather  than  to  the  personal  favor  of  the  department 
commander. 

Kilpatrick  was  naturally  chagrined  at  the  order 
relieving  him  from  command  of  the  Third  Division, 
and  had  already  taken  his  departure  for  the  West.1 
I  had  known  him  well  at  West  Point.  Although 
nearly  two  years  my  senior,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  class  next  after  mine  and  had  served  in  the  cadet 
company  of  which  I  was  first  sergeant,  both  as  a 
private  and  as  a  corporal,  and  while  I  can  scarcely 
claim  to  have  been  a  mother  to  him,  as  is  the  duty 
of  a  first  sergeant,  I  had  taken  a  friendly  interest  in 
him  and  had  eome  to  regard  him  highly  as  an  officer 
of  energy,  ability,  and  patriotism.  He  early  began 
the  war  for  the  Union  and  he  was  just  as  enthu- 
siastic and  outspoken  for  it  as  was  the  hottest- 
headed  fire-eater  in  favor  of  the  South  and  its  pe- 
culiar institution.     He  was  a  brilliant  orator,  and 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  60,  p.  862. 
368 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

while  on  furlough  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
political  meetings  of  his  native  state.  During  his 
cadet  days  he  distinguished  himself  as  an  amateur 
actor  in  the  plays  given  by  the  Dialectic  Society. 
Somewhat  below  medium  size,  with  sandy,  reddish 
hair  and  a  fiery  temper,  he  was  distinctly  unpopu- 
lar  with  the  Southerners,  whose  growing  aggres- 
siveness and  intolerance  he  was  prompt  to  resent. 
This  naturally  led  to  a  number  of  personal  squabbles 
and  encounters,  but  no  matter  how  big  his  antago- 
nist Kilpatrick  always  bore  himself  with  unflinching 
courage.  Although  married  the  day  he  graduated, 
he  was  at  once  assigned  as  a  second  lieutenant  to 
the  Eegular  Artillery.  As  he  was  one  of  the  first 
graduates  of  West  Point  to  perceive  that  the  war 
for  the  Union  would  be  fought  mainly  by  volunteers, 
he  at  once  resolved  to  cast  his  lot  in  with  them. 
Within  a  week  he  was  elected  a  captain  in  the  Fifth 
New  York  Infantry,  known  as  Duryea's  Zouaves. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  took  a  conspicuous  part  in 
the  battle  of  Big  Bethel,  and  although  severely 
wounded  he  refused  to  leave  the  field  till  overcome 
by  the  loss  of  blood.  He  was  the  first  regular  officer 
wounded  during  the  war  of  the  Eebellion,  and  to 
find  himself  loudly  praised  in  the  newspapers,  which 
was  doubtless  the  reason  for  his  election  as  lieu- 
tenant colonel  of  the  Second  New  York  Cavalry  as 
well  as  for  his  detail  as  inspector  general  on  Mc- 
Dowell's staff.  Too  energetic  to  remain  long  on 
detached  duty,  however  honorable,  he  sought  per- 
mission at  the  beginning  of  active  operations  to  re- 
join his  regiment,  and  for  the  next  two  years  his 
life  was  one  of  incessant  activity.  He  became  colonel 
of  his  regiment  before  the  end  of  the  second  year 

369 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

and  took  a  tireless  and  gallant  part  in  all  the  raids, 
battles,  and  skirmishes  connected  with  the  cam- 
paigns in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  He  was  the 
first  of  the  younger  West  Pointers  to  win  the  star 
of  a  brigadier  general,  and  to  succeed  in  turn  to 
the  command  of  a  brigade  and  a  division.  During 
his  entire  service,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other 
officer  could  have  been  personally  present  at  more 
engagements  or  have  been  more  frequently  in  dan- 
ger of  sudden  death  than  was  the  ubiquitous  and 
fearless  Kilpatrick.  At  the  battle  of  Gettysburg 
he  made  a  gallant  but  unsuccessful  charge  against 
the  right  wing  of  Lee's  army,  and  for  the  next  two 
weeks  was  daily  in  pursuit  and  conflict  with  the 
enemy.  Neither  fall  nor  winter  put  an  end  to  his 
activities.  In  the  early  spring  of  1864  he  conducted 
a  daring  but  unsuccessful  raid  against  Richmond, 
in  which  Ulric  Dahlgren,  the  gallant  son  of  Admiral 
Dahlgren,  lost  his  life,  and  many  officers  and  men 
were  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  It  cannot  be 
said  that  Kilpatrick  was  always  successful,  but  no 
man  ever  charged  him  with  being  a  laggard  in  cam- 
paign or  battle,  or  that  he  did  not  bear  himself  al- 
ways with  conspicuous  gallantry.  Full  of  enthu- 
siasm and  romance,  he  naturally  loved  streamers, 
guidons,  and  banners,  and  rejoiced  in  the  bugles, 
the  racket,  rattle,  and  fanfaronade  of  the  cavalry 
service.  No  enterprise  was  too  dangerous  to  ap- 
pall him,  no  odds  too  great  to  deter  him  from  the 
charge,  and,  like  his  far  abler  and  far  steadier 
classmate,  the  incomparable  Upton,  there  was  no 
position  in  the  army  to  which  he  did  not  aspire. 
His  ambition  was  simply  boundless,  and  from  his 
intimates  he  did  not  disguise  his  faith  that,  if  he 

370 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

got  through  the  war  alive,  he  would  become  gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey,  and  ultimately  president  of 
the  United  States.  Withal,  his  habits  were  unexcep- 
tionable. While  he  was  as  gay  and  boastful  as  the 
traditional  cavalier,  he  neither  drank  nor  gambled, 
and  the  severest  thing  ever  said  of  him,  excepting 
the  rough,  half-jocular  criticism  by  Sherman,  to  be 
mentioned  later,  was  that  he  should  have  been 
known  as  ' '  Kil-Cavalry, ' '  rather  than  as  Kilpat- 
rick.  That  he  did  not  take  proper  care  of  his  men 
and  horses  was  generally  alleged,  but  the  sufficient 
answer  is  that  neither  he  nor  any  one  in  his  place 
could  do  so  under  the  system  prevailing  in  the  army 
at  any  time  up  to  the  end.  No  civilian  can  realize 
how  impossible  it  was,  till  Grant  became  generalis- 
simo, for  the  cavalry  leaders  to  manage  their  arm  of 
service  with  the  conservatism  and  prudence  neces- 
sary to  build  up  and  maintain  its  efficiency  and  yet 
give  it  on  the  march  and  in  battle  that  coherence 
and  dash  without  which  it  could  not  hope  to  succeed. 
While  it  may  be  truthfully  inferred  that  I  had 
nothing  to  do  with  Kilpatrick's  transfer  to  the 
West,  it  is  proper  to  add  that  I  was  destined,  when 
detailed  to  reorganize  and  command  the  Western 
cavalry,  to  supersede  him  again.  On  joining  Sher- 
man later  in  that  year  at  Gaylesville  I  found  Kil- 
patrick  commanding  the  Third  Cavalry  Division  of 
the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  which  in  the  reorgani- 
zation became  the  Third  Division  of  the  Cavalry 
Corps  of  the  Military  Division  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  Atlanta  cam- 
paign and,  although  from  no  fault  of  his  own  the 
cavalry  operations  were  sadly  lacking  coherence, 
it  is  certain  that  he  had,  in  the  main,  won  Sherman  's 

371 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

personal  confidence  and  regard.  In  conference  at 
the  camp  fire  that  night  about  plans  and  organiza- 
tion, the  General  selected  Kilpatrick's  division  and 
directed  me  to  fit  it  out  thoroughly  for  the  march 
to  the  sea,  adding  at  once  in  language  more  graphic 
than  just  or  considerate:  "I  know  that  Kilpatrick 
is  a  hell  of  a  damned  fool,  but  I  want  just  that  sort 
of  a  man  to  command  my  cavalry  on  this  expedi- 
tion." This  was  as  breezy  and  still  more  unfair 
than  what  he  had  just  written  to  Grant:  "Kilpat- 
rick is  well  enough  for  small  scouts,  but  I  do  want 
a  man  of  sense  and  courage  to  manage  my  cavalry, 
and  will  take  any  one  that  you  have  tried. ' ' *  And 
this  accounts  for  the  fact  that  Kilpatrick  was  with 
Sherman  to  the  last  day  of  the  war,  but,  proof 
against  fatigue  himself,  he  worked  his  division  as 
usual  beyond  its  capacity,  and  took  but  little  care 
of  his  horses,  which  all  good  cavalrymen  know  are 
the  principal  factor  in  the  efficiency  of  the  mounted 
service.  From  first  to  last  Kilpatrick  was  as  brave, 
enterprising,  and  energetic  as  any  officer  on  either 
side  of  the  Great  Conflict.  In  later  years  it  became 
my  willing  task  to  prepare  the  sketch  of  his  life 
and  services  for  Cullum's  Biographical  Eegister  of 
the  officers  and  graduates  of  the  Military  Academy.2 
With  the  incessant  activity  imposed  upon  Kil- 
patrick, in  season  and  out  of  season,  it  was  but 
natural  that  he  should  leave  his  division  in  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  badly  run  down.  Its  camps  were 
badly  placed  and  badly  policed;  its  horses  were 
overworked  and  exhausted ;  its  equipment  and  cloth- 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  78,  p.  442. 

'"Cullum's   Eegister,"   Vol.   II,   p.    784.     Also    " Biographical 
Sketch,"  by  J.  H.  Wilson,  p.  786  et  seq. 

372 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

ing  nearly  used  up,  and  its  heterogeneous  collection 
of  carbines  dirty  and  out  of  order.1  To  make  mat- 
ters worse,  the  division  staff  was  scattered,  part  go- 
ing with  Kilpatrick  and  part  remaining  behind. 
When  I  took  command  I  found  but  seven  regiments, 
the  Second,  Fifth,  and  Eighth  New  York ;  the  Eigh- 
teenth Pennsylvania,  the  Third  New  Jersey,  and  the 
First  Connecticut,  together  with  one  troop  of  the 
Third  Indiana,  and  one  of  the  Second  Ohio,  in  all 
three  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-six  men  for 
duty.  Of  these,  only  two  thousand  six  hundred  and 
ninety-two  were  mounted,  while  seven  hundred  and 
forty-four  were  entirely  dismounted  and  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-eight  were  furnished  with  worn- 
out  or  disabled  horses  which  had  been  condemned 
as  unserviceable.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that 
one  thousand  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  remounts 
were  needed  to  enable  the  division  to  take  the  field. 
The  greater  part  of  its  available  force  was  stretched 
in  an  unbroken  picket  line  covering  the  army's  left 
wing  and  in  sight  of  it,  for  twenty-eight  miles,  so 
that  the  next  afternoon  only  six  hundred  and  fifteen 
men  were  turned  out  for  drill.  At  the  first  morning 
inspection  I  found  but  few  officers  attending  stable 
call,  while  all  routine  duties  were  so  poorly  per- 
formed that  I  felt  obliged  to  put  one  colonel  in  ar- 
rest and  to  admonish  the  rest  that  radical  improve- 
ments must  be  made  at  once  if  they  would  save 
themselves  from  a  similar  fate.  The  actual  condi- 
tions could  not  have  been  more  discouraging.  It 
was  evident  that  a  hard  job  had  fallen  to  my  lot 
and  that  I  should  be  compelled  to  put  forth  the  most 
vigorous  efforts  to  procure  the  necessary  remounts, 

10.  R.  Serial  No.  60,  p.   891-2. 

373 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

equipment,  clothing,  and  improved  arms  in  time  to 
take  an  efficient  part  in  the  campaign  about  to  be- 
gin. Fortunately,  while  chief  of  the  Cavalry  Bu- 
reau, I  had  induced  the  chief  of  Ordnance  to  con- 
tract for  all  the  Spencer  magazine  carbines  that 
could  be  turned  out,  and,  as  this  was  the  best  re- 
peating firearm  so  far  invented,  I  at  once  made  req- 
uisition for  five  thousand,  or  enough  to  supply  the 
entire  division,  but  it  was  three  months  before  the 
contractors  could  deliver  them.  Meanwhile,  the 
regiment  did  the  best  it  could  with  Burnside,  Smith, 
Sharp,  and  Colt  carbines,  supplemented  by  sabers 
and  revolvers.  Under  the  prevailing  conditions  it 
was  uphill  work  to  establish  regular  discipline  and 
repair  the  deficiencies  of  equipment  and  outfit,  but 
the  officers  and  men  were  excellent  in  quality  and 
character,  and  gave  most  cheerful  assistance  in  the 
work  to  be  done.  I  had  hardly  got  acquainted  with 
its  extent  and  character  when  I  was  summoned  to 
Washington  as  a  witness  before  a  general  court- 
martial.  Fortunately,  General  Grant  was  called 
there  the  same  day,  and  as  we  traveled  on  together 
I  acquainted  him  with  the  actual  condition  of  af- 
fairs. He  was  sympathetic  and  gave  me  assurance 
of  both  personal  and  official  support  in  such  meas- 
ures as  I  might  find  necessary  to  get  my  division 
ready  for  service. 

I  was  absent  five  days,  but  before  leaving  the 
front  I  had  started  the  work,  and  during  my  absence 
was  able  to  hurry  forward  remounts  and  new  equip- 
ment. The  next  two  weeks  constituted  a  period  of 
incessant  activity,  not  only  on  my  own  part,  but 
on  the  part  of  my  quartermaster  and  ordnance  offi- 
cer.    Through  Sheridan's  intercession  the  cavalry 

374 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

picket  line  was  reduced  to  a  few  points  of  observa- 
tion, and  the  greater  part  of  the  mounted  troops 
returned  to  camp,  where  they  at  once  engaged  in 
drilling  and  refitting  for  an  active  campaign.1  Dana, 
the  assistant  secretary  of  war,  spent  several  days 
with  us,  and  became  personally  acquainted  with  the 
condition  of  the  army,  and  especially  of  the  cavalry. 
Through  his  aid  much  was  done  to  repair  the  waste 
of  the  previous  campaigns.  Drills  were  instituted, 
reviews  were  held,  inspections  were  made,  instruc- 
tion given,  and  a  system  of  daily  administration 
was  instituted,  so  that  by  the  first  of  May  a  vis- 
itor to  the  army  would  have  been  impressed  by  the 
apparent  readiness  of  the  cavalry,  as  well  as  of  the 
infantry,  for  the  onward  movement.  During  the 
early  stages  of  the  campaign  the  First  Vermont,  one 
of  the  best  cavalry  regiments  in  the  army,  returned 
to  the  division,  and  the  Twenty-second  New  York, 
a  new  cavalry  regiment,  was  assigned  to  it,  mainly, 
I  always  supposed,  because  it  was  so  green  that  no 
one  else  wanted  it.  The  last  few  days  in  camp  were 
taken  up  with  final  arrangements,  with  visits  to 
Sheridan  and  Grant  and  with  reti  rn  visits  from 
Grant's  staff  officers.  It  was  a  time  of  intense  ac- 
tivity to  all.  Grant  was  on  trial  with  a  new  army 
in  a  new  theater  of  operations,  and  yet  he  was  ac- 
tual generalissimo  of  all  the  Union  forces,  subject 
only  to  the  President  as  commander-in-chief. 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  the  Confederate 
army  of  North  Virginia  had  been  facing  each  other 
without  any  decisive  engagement  since  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  July  1,  2,  and  3,  the  year  before. 
Grant's    headquarters    were    at    Culpeper    Court 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  60,  p.  909,  Sheridan  to  Meade,  Apr.  19,  1864. 

375 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

House,  sometimes  known  as  Fairfax,  in  Piedmont, 
Virginia,  with  the  Blue  Ridge  in  sight,  sixty-five 
miles  south-southwest  from  Washington.  Lee's 
were  at  Orange  Court  House,  also  in  sight  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  about  twenty  miles  farther  on  by  the 
same  railroad,  and  about  seventy  miles  by  its  con- 
nections, northwest  from  Richmond.  The  distance 
between  them  was  unequally  divided  by  the  Rapi- 
dan,  with  outposts  of  both  on  that  stream. 

Grant  held  the  country  between  the  Rapidan,  the 
Blue  Ridge,  and  Washington,  and  drew  his  supplies 
at  first  by  rail,  afterwards,  as  he  moved  forward, 
by  rail  and  water.  Lee,  with  two  corps  at  Orange 
and  east  of  Orange  and  one  at  Gordonsville  and  to 
the  south,  covered  the  junction  of  the  railroads  to 
Lynchburg  and  Richmond,  and  drew  supplies  from 
the  country  tributary  to  both  places.  The  entire 
region  south  of  him,  with  the  exception  of  the  sea 
coast,  the  larger  bays,  and  the  estuaries,  was  under 
his  control.  Grant's  strength  was  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  thousand;  Lee's  about  eighty-five 
thousand  men  for  duty.  The  conditions,  as  they 
then  existed,  put  upon  Grant  the  necessity  of  as- 
suming the  offensive,  while  they  imperatively  re- 
quired Lee  to  stand  on  the  defensive. 

From  this  statement  it  is  evident  that  the  first 
battle  must  be  fought  south  of  the  Rapidan,  and 
as  an  advance  by  the  left  flank  would  necessarily 
shorten  Grant's  line  of  supply  and  make  his  move- 
ments safer,  he  wisely  concluded  to  open  the  cam- 
paign by  moving  in  that  direction.  As  Lee's  main 
body  occupied  the  region  eastward  from  Orange 
Court  House  to  Mine  Run,  a  small  stream  flowing 
north  into  the  Rapidan,  which  had  stayed  Meade's 

376 


THIRD    CAVALRY   DIVISION 

march  in  the  unfortunate  mud  campaign  of  the  late 
winter,  it  was  apparent  that,  while  the  Union  army's 
advance  must  be  generally  southeast,  its  flank  would 
be  exposed  to  a  counter  movement  from  Lee  nearly 
at  right  angles  to  the  roads  it  must  follow. 

The  distance . from  the  center  of  Grant's  army 
to  Spottsylvania  Court  House  was  from  twenty-five 
to  thirty  miles  by  the  several  country  roads,  while 
the  distance  from  the  center  of  Lee's  line  east  of 
Orange  to  the  same  points  was  on  the  average  about 
five  miles  less.  As  much  of  the  region,  soon  to  be- 
come the  scene  of  a  series  of  the  bloodiest  battles 
of  modern  times,  was  covered  by  forest  trees  and 
tangled  underbrush  which  appropriately  gave  it  the 
name  of  the  Wilderness,  the  advantages  were  about 
equally  divided.  As  Grant  knew  exactly  when  his 
columns  would  begin  to  move,  and  Lee  could  not  be 
certain  about  either  their  direction  or  weight,  and 
must  gather  these  essential  facts  from  the  report  of 
his  outposts  and  spies,  it  may  be  fairly  assumed 
that,  with  proper  secrecy  and  celerity,  Grant's  col- 
umns could  have  passed  through  the  Wilderness  and 
reached  the  open  country  beyond  before  Lee  could, 
reach  or  confront  them.  When  it  is  considered  that 
about  half  the  distance  to  be  traversed  was  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Rapidan,  where  the  initial  move- 
ments could  be  made  under  cover  of  darkness  be- 
yond the  observations  of  the  enemy,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  advantages  of  a  surprise  might  have  been 
realized  had  the  details  been  carefully  worked  out 
beforehand  and  the  invading  columns  pushed  for- 
ward with  the  utmost  confidence  and  celerity.1 

1  By  far  the  best  Confederate  accounts  of  this  campaign  are 
Longstreet's  "From  Manassas  to  Appomattox' ?  and  Alexander's 
"Military  Memoirs  of  a  Confederate." 

377 


XV 

GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

First  to  cross  the  Rapidan — Craig's  Meeting  House — 
Catharpen  Road — Todd 's  Tavern — Chancellorsville — 
Sedgwick's  flank  turned — Grant's  behavior — Occupa- 
tion of  Spottsylvania  Court  House — Meade,  Warren, 
and  Sedgwick — Incident  with  Warren — Meeting  with 
Grant — Defective  organization  of  army. 

Grant  having  completed  his  plans  for  a  general 
and  simultaneous  advance,  it  was  the  duty  of  his 
subordinates  to  perform  the  part  assigned  them  to 
the  best  of  their  ability.  The  details  of  the  pre- 
liminary movements  were  worked  out  by  Meade  and 
his  officers.  This  done,  a  calm,  full  of  anxiety,  fell 
upon  Grant's  staff,  and,  realizing  that  the  respon- 
sibility was  now  on  other  shoulders,  Eawlins,  Por- 
ter, Babcock,  and  Badeau  rode  over  to  my  head- 
quarters on  the  evening  the  advance  began.  Know- 
ing that  I  would  have  the  lead,  they  came  to  wish 
me  success  and  Godspeed.  We  passed  a  pleasant 
hour,  exchanging  confidences  and  good  cheer,  and 
then,  with  a  hearty  hand-shake  all  round,  parted  to 
meet  again  on  the  field  of  strife  a  few  days  later. 

My  division  was  as  nearly  ready  as  volunteer 
cavalry  ever  is,  and  as  it  had  the  extreme  left  and 
front  at  Stevensburg,  five  miles  from  Culpeper  and 

378 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

eight  miles  from  Germanna  ford,  it  naturally  opened 
the  campaign.  Calling  in  my  detachments  after 
dark,  I  took  the  road  about  nine  o'clock,  and  just 
before  midnight,  May  3,  reached  the  north  bank 
of  the  Eapidan,  where  arrangements  had  already 
been  made  to  lay  a  pontoon  bridge.  A  few  minutes 
after  midnight,  on  the  morning  of  May  4,  the 
dismounted  men  of  Chapman's  advance  forded  the 
river  and,  driving  back  the  enemy's  pickets,  opened 
the  way  for  the  division,  which  was  in  turn  fol- 
lowed closely  by  the  Fifth  Corps.  By  5  a.  m.  I 
pushed  out  on  the  direct  road  to  Old  Wilderness 
Tavern,  where  I  halted  and  sent  out  strong  detach- 
ments to  patrol  the  roads  to  the  west  and  south  of 
that  place. 

As  soon  as  the  infantry  made  its  appearance  we 
pushed  on  five  miles  further  to  Parker's  Store  on 
the  Orange  plank-road,  where  we  bivouacked  for  the 
night,  while  Colonel  Hammond  with  his  splendid 
regiment,  the  Fifth  New  York  Cavalry,  well  out 
toward  New  Hope  Church  and  Mine  Run,  guarded 
the  roads  from  Lee's  right  against  surprise.  As  it 
afterward  became  known,  Lee  with  his  main  body 
was  advancing  from  that  quarter  and  our  advance 
guards  that  night  halted  within  two  miles  of  each 
other.  But  we  met  nothing  during  the  day  except 
the  rebel  pickets,  all  of  whom  fled  to  the  westward 
upon  our  approach. 

Passing  into  the  Wilderness,  we  expected  that 
the  infantry  would  relieve  our  detachments  on  the 
various  roads  and  throw  out  their  own  in  turn,  to 
cover  and  protect  their  flanks  from  the  enemy,  and 
this  expectation  was  fully  realized.  Although  my 
headquarters  were  within  four  or  five  miles  of  the 

379 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

enemy's,  we  passed  the  entire  night  in  perfect  quiet- 
ude, and  the  next  morning  at  five  o'clock  I  moved 
forward  with  the  division  well  in  hand  to  Craig's 
Meeting  House,  near  Danielsville,  on  the  Catharpen 
Eoad,  leaving  Colonel  Hammond  with  the  Fifth  New 
York  to  hold  the  position  at  Parker's  Store  till  re- 
lieved by  Warren's  leading  division.  An  hour  or 
more  after  I  had  gone  forward  the  enemy  under 
Lee's  personal  command  made  his  appearance  from 
the  direction  of  Mine  Eun,  and  a  sharp  fight  ensued, 
lasting  six  hours.  Hammond,  soon  joined  by  Mc- 
intosh, his  brigade  commander,  sent  word  at  once 
to  Crawford's  division,  the  nearest  infantry,  that 
the  enemy  were  pressing  heavily  upon  him,  and,  if 
the  position  was  to  be  held,  help  should  be  sent  at 
once,  but  help  never  came.  Mcintosh  and  Hammond, 
with  about  five  hundred  men,  armed  with  Spencer 
carbines,  fighting  behind  trees  on  foot,  in  extended 
order,  made  the  enemy  think  that  he  had  encoun- 
tered Grant's  infantry,  but  the  dismounted  horse- 
men were  finally  outflanked,  overweighted,  and 
pressed  back  upon  Crawford,  a  mile  and  a  half  to 
the  right  and  rear.  This  Was  the  opening  fight  of 
the  campaign  and  gave  ample  notice  of  the  Confed- 
erate advance  in  force.  The  next  began  about  the 
same  time  by  the  main  body  of  the  division  under 
my  personal  command  on  the  Catharpen  Eoad,  near 
Craig's  Meeting  House,  or  Danielsville,  about  seven 
miles  southwest  of  Parker's  Store,  and  fully  eight 
and  a  half  miles  from  the  nearest  infantry. 

I  reached  that  point  at  eight  o  'clock  without  op- 
position, but  shortly  afterward  the  enemy's  cavalry, 
led  by  the  dashing  Eosser,  a  Texan,  who  had  been 
four  years  a  cadet  with  me,  supported  by  Hampton 

380 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

with  the  other  two  brigades  of  his  division,  as  well 
as  by  Stuart,  with  his  second  division — in  all  about 
eight  thousand  men,  or  double  my  force — attacked 
my  advance  guard  with  vigor.  As  this  was  my  first 
engagement  as  a  cavalry  commander,  I  lost  no  time 
in  personally  leading  my  second  brigade  under  the 
modest  but  intrepid  Chapman,  colonel  of  the  Third 
Indiana  Cavalry,  to  the  attack.  As  was  customary 
in  those  days,  three-quarters  of  the  men,  or  about 
one  thousand  three  hundred  in  all,  were  dismounted 
and  deployed  in  open  order  as  skirmishers,  while 
the  other  quarter  held  the  horses  under  cover  of  the 
woods  and  the  accidents  of  the  ground  in  the  rear. 
The  action  was  on  at  once  and,  as  both  sides  were 
anxious  to  gain  the  first  advantage,  it  soon  became 
furious.  My  two  batteries  of  horse  artillery,  under 
Pennington  and  Fitzhugh,  both  young  West  Pointers 
of  courage  and  experience,  followed  up  the  skir- 
mishers closely,  combing  the  ground  to  the  front 
with  a  rapid  and  noisy  fire  of  shrapnel  and  canister. 
Bosser's  advance  was  promptly  checked  and  driven 
back  upon  Lomax  and  Gordon's  brigades  of  the  same 
division,  which  were  in  turn  thrown  into  confusion, 
and  before  they  could  reform  had  been  driven  about 
two  miles.  It  was  practically  a  head-on  collision 
on  a  forest  road  in  which  both  parties  bore  them- 
selves gallantly,  making  all  the  noise  they  could. 
While  the  initial  advantage  was  decidedly  with  us 
and  while  I  pushed  it  as  far  as  I  could,  I  soon  learned 
from  prisoners  and  wounded  in  our  hands  that  we 
were  in  the  presence  of  Stuart's  entire  cavalry  corps, 
supported  probably  by  Longstreet 's  infantry,  which 
had  also  begun  its  march  from  Gordonsville  that 
morning.    I  gave  orders  to  discontinue  the  pursuit, 

381 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

rally  and  fall  slowly  back  to  a  junction  with  my 
first  brigade  near  the  crossing  of  Robinson's  Run 
on  the  road  by  which  we  had  advanced.  As  Chap- 
man's ammunition  with  so  much  fighting  was  run- 
ning low  and  the  reserve  was  some  distance  in  rear, 
it  was  Chapman  's  duty  to  get  back  as  rapidly  as  he 
could  without  running,  though  in  accordance  with 
the  usage  of  cavalry,  we  might  have  done  even  that 
without  discredit,  had  it  been  necessary  or  had  we 
known,  as  we  afterward  learned,  that  we  were  out- 
numbered two  or  three  to  one. 

I  had  fully  accomplished  the  task  assigned  me 
and  had  sent  courier  after  courier  to  the  rear  with 
written  reports  of  what  was  going  on  in  that  quar- 
ter, but,  unfortunately,  not  one  of  them  got  through 
without  delay  or  a  roundabout  ride,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  enemy's  infantry  had  forced  Mcintosh 
and  Hammond  from  the  crossroads  at  Parker's 
Store  and  thereby  cut  out  direct  communication  with 
army  headquarters. 

Meanwhile  Hampton  and  Rosser,  with  their  sup- 
ports, having  got  their  breath,  as  soon  as  the  pres- 
sure upon  them  eased  up,  came  at  us  again  with 
all  their  vigor.  They  were  dashing  fellows  and 
their  men  promptly  responded  to  their  leadership. 
Fierce  fighting  was  resumed.  Our  men,  as  they 
reached  their  horses,  remounted,  when  charge  and 
counter  charge  with  saber  and  pistol  followed  in 
quick  succession,  each  causing  a  halt  in  the  action 
of  the  other.  When  Chapman's  line,  still  deployed, 
but  facing  about  whenever  necessary,  had  passed 
beyond  me,  I  found  myself  with  a  single  troop  of 
the  Eighth  Illinois  Cavalry,  under  Lieutenant  Long, 
covering  the  rear.    Under  a  rattling  fire  from  our 

382 


r> 


GRANT'S  OVERLAkD  CAMPAIGN 

artillery  sweeping  the  enemy's  front  with  shrapnel 
and  canister,  Long  and  I  led  the  little  guard  of 
Illinoisians  headlong  against  the  enemy's  advance, 
scattering  it  in  all  directions.  After  pushing  the 
charge  as  far  as  it  could  go  I  sounded  the  rally 
and  slowly  fell  back  by  the  road  on  which  I  had 
advanced.  Although  the  enemy  followed  at  a  dis- 
tance, we  were  not  engaged  again  that  day.  We 
joined  the  first  brigade  where  we  had  left  it,  cover- 
ing the  road  to  Parker's  Store,  but  had  hardly  got 
there  when,  greatly  to  my  disappointment,  I  learned 
that  our  couriers  had  not  got  through  to  Meade's 
headquarters.  The  road  was  barred  by  the  enemy. 
I  had  had  no  word  from  Sheridan  that  day  and 
knew  absolutely  nothing  as  to  his  whereabouts  or 
even  as  to  the  position  of  any  part  of  the  army  ex- 
cept my  own.  It  was  now  late  in  the  afternoon, 
and,  fearing  that  my  exposed  position  far  in  front 
might  invite  the  enemy  to  concentrate  heavily 
against  me,  I  resolved  to  make  my  way  to  Todd's 
Tavern,  five  miles  farther  to  the  east,  and  either 
form  a  junction  with  Gregg  at  that  place  or  rejoin 
the  cavalry  corps  wherever  it  might  be  found. 

Having  reunited  my  command  at  Robinson's  Run 
and  discovered  that  the  enemy's  infantry  were  not 
only  behind  our  right  and  rear  in  the  direction  of 
Parker's  Store,  but  that  his  cavalry  were  moving 
by  our  left  as  if  to  get  behind  us,  I  made  my  way 
rapidly  through  the  woods  to  the  left,  regained  the 
Catharpen  Road  in  advance  of  the  enemy  and  con- 
tinued along  it  to  the  Tavern,  in  front  of  which  we 
found  Gregg's  division  in  line  of  battle.  Fortu- 
nately, he  had  not  yet  seen  the  enemy  and  with  his 
fresh  men  we  not  only  easily  checked  Rosser  and 

383 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Hampton,    but   made    good    our    position    for   the 
night*. 

During  the  operations  of  the  afternoon,  however, 
while  covering  the  rear  with  my  own  escort,  I  was 
several  times  in  danger  of  being  cut  off  in  making 
a  detour  to  rejoin  the  division  farther  back.  In 
the  last  instance,  while  trotting  along  leisurely  be- 
hind the  troops,  the  rattle  and  racket  going  on  back 
of  us  so  alarmed  my  horse,  the  "Waif,"  a  veteran 
of  the  Vicksburg  and  Chattanooga  campaigns,  that 
he  suddenly  seized  his  bit  and  dashed  off  at  full 
speed  till  he  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  our  re- 
tiring skirmishers,  when  he  yielded  to  the  reins, 
and,  with  what  might  have  been  considered  a  sigh 
of  relief,  again  settled  down  to  an  orderly  gait. 
Shortly  afterward  I  formed  the  junction  with  Gregg 
with  no  further  loss  except  a  few  men  and  horses 
wounded.  After  a  conference  it  became  apparent 
that  our  new  position  was  still  nearly  five  miles 
in  front  of  the  infantry,  and  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  establish  and  maintain  communication  by 
the  Brock  Eoad,  on  which  Gregg  had  advanced.  To 
this  end  I  sent  Chapman's  brigade,  just  before  mid- 
night, back  a  mile  and  a  half,  with  orders  to  patrol 
and  cover  the  country  between  us  and  the  advance 
corps  of  the  army.  Fortunately,  the  enemy  was  not 
moving  in  the  dark,  so  our  jaded  men  and  horses 
got  a  few  hours  of  badly  needed  rest.  We  had  been 
marching  and  fighting  most  of  the  time  for  two 
days  and  three  nights,  swinging  entirely  around 
from  the  extreme  right  to  the  farthest  advanced 
post  through  field  and  forest  in  the  midst  of  which 
the  great  battles  of  the  Wilderness  were  fought. 
We  had  perfectly  screened  Grant's  advance,  engag- 

384 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

ing  the  enemy  wherever  we  encountered  him  and 
making  good  our  hold  on  the  important  points  of 
the  field,  but  so  far  had  received  neither  support 
nor  new  orders  from  the  rear.  Both  men  and  horses 
were  getting  hungry,  the  country  was  equally  bare 
of  provisions  and  forage,  and  as  we  knew  nothing 
yet  of  how  it  had  fared  with  the  infantry,  our  third 
night  was  necessarily  one  of  intense  anxiety. 

Communication  was  finally  opened  with  corps 
headquarters  during  the  night,  and  early  the  next 
morning  Sheridan  sent  me  orders  to  make  my  way 
to  Chancellorsville  for  ammunition  and  rations. 
Moving  by  wood-roads,  which  were  everywhere  ob- 
scure, several  hours  were  consumed  in  finding  our 
trains  and  renewing  our  supplies.  The  next  morn- 
ing, bright  and  early,  we  were  ordered  to  take  po- 
sition further  to  our  left  and  front,  with  one  bri- 
gade at  Piney  Branch  Church  and  the  other  at  Al- 
drich's  House,  near  the  Fredericksburg  and  Spott- 
sylvania  road.  As  that  was  far  beyond  the  reach 
of  the  enemy  at  that  stage  of  the  campaign,  we 
had  no  further  fighting  and  were  withdrawn  again 
after  dark  to  Chancellorsville,  where  we  bivouacked 
for  the  night. 

I  there  learned  for  the  first  time  that  the  whole 
of  that  day,  May  6,  had  been  one  of  desperate 
battle.  While  the  cavalry  operations  had  developed 
the  enemy's  movements  and  screened  our  own,  they 
equally  gave  Lee,  through  his  pickets,  timely  notice 
of  Grant's  advance  from  the  Rapidan  into  the  Wil- 
derness. As  we  soon  knew  to  our  cost,  the  Confed- 
erate leader  wasted  no  time  in  uncertainty,  but  sal- 
lied out  with  his  entire  army  on  the  several  parallel 
roads  leading  from  his  camps  at  and  east  of  Orange 

385 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

and  Gordonsville  toward  Fredericksburg,  crossing 
those  nearly  at  right  angles  on  which  Grant  was 
necessarily  advancing. 

Notwithstanding  the  successful  operations  of  the 
cavalry,  the  infantry  battle  was  soon  joined  on  a 
grand  scale  in  the  tangled  woods  and  underbrush 
of  the  Wilderness,  every  trail  through  which  was 
familiar  to  the  enemy  and  his  guides,  but  the  story 
has  been  told  so  many  times  that  I  shall  not  even 
recount  the  details  of  our  own  operations,1  although 
nearly  all  historical  accounts  ignore  or  minimize  the 
part  played  by  the  cavalry,  but  shall  confine  my- 
self to  certain  incidents  which,  so  far  as  I  know, 
have  not  yet  found  a  place  in  the  annals  of  the 
times. 

In  the  desperate  efforts  to  resist  our  passage 
through  the  Wilderness,  Lee  was  necessarily  the  as- 
sailant and  threw  himself  with  the  frenzy  of  des- 
peration against  Grant's  columns.  But  the  Union 
army,  with  varying  fortunes,  due  mostly  to  the  un- 
favorable features  of  the  battlefield,  everywhere 
held  its  own  except  on  the  extreme  right,  where  the 
enemy  under  Gordon  after  sundown  made  an  unex- 
pected advance,  turning  Sedgwick's  right  flank  and 
capturing  almost  a  division  of  his  infantry,  but  fail- 
ing, partly  on  account  of  darkness,  which  obscured 
the  great  advantage  he  had  gained,  and  partly  be- 
cause his  column  lacked  weight,  his  movement  soon 
came  to  an  end.  Meanwhile,  the  imperturbable 
Sedgwick,  by  refusing  that  part  of  his  line  which 
remained  intact,  restored  order,  formed  a  new  line, 
and  made  good  his  position  for  the  night.  The  dan- 
ger was  soon  past,  but  while  it  lasted  it  was  an 

1  See  my  report,  O.  E.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  871-884. 
386 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

episode  of  terrible  import,  followed  by  a  night  of 
anxiety  which  none  of  us  will  ever  forget.1 

About  nine  o'clock  Forsyth,  Sheridan's  chief - 
of-staff,  an  intimate  friend  from  our  cadet  days, 
came  to  my  headquarters  with  the  first  news  of  the 
disaster  which  had  befallen  the  Sixth  Corps.  My 
division  was  next  to  the  scene  of  action  and  I  was 
directed  to  hold  it  in  instant  readiness  for  any  or- 
ders that  might  reach  us.  The  situation  was  one 
of  extraordinary  gravity.2  Sheridan  had  already 
been  notified  that  the  reserve  trains  had  been  or- 
dered to  the  left  and  would  thereafter  be  under  his 
protection  and  base  themselves  on  Fredericksburg. 
This  movement  he  construed  as  foreshadowing  an 
entire  change  of  base  and  possibly  a  retreat  to  the 
north  side  of  the  Eappahannock.  We  both  knew 
that  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  had  executed  such 
maneuvers  before,  and,  above  all,  we  knew  that  it 
had  not  hitherto  fought  its  battles  to  a  finish.  In 
ignorance  yet  of  what  might  follow  from  the 
enemy's  turning  movement  early  in  the  evening,  we 
feared  the  worst.  Forsyth,  far  from  being  a  tyro 
or  an  alarmist,  was  a  veteran  of  long  service  and 
hard  knocks,  who  knew  the  signs  and  portents  of 
war  as  well  as  any  man  living.  My  inflated  India- 
rubber  bed  had  already  been  spread  upon  the 
ground  for  the  night,  and  after  we  had  fully  con- 
sidered the  situation  with  all  the  light  we  could 
get,  and  I  had  given  my  staff  and  brigade  com- 
manders such  orders  as  were  required  by  the  occa- 
sion, I  invited  Forsyth  to  lie  down  with  me.  Of 
course,  neither  of  us  undressed,  but  our  heads  had 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  2,  18,  190,  1028,  1071,  1077-8. 
3  O.  R.  Serial  No.  68,  pp.  2,  448. 

387 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

scarcely  touched  the  pillow  when  we  caught  the 
sound  and  tremor  of  a  distant  roar  that  seemed  like 
the  musketry  of  battle.  We  listened  with  bated 
breath,  and,  while  we  were  not  certain,  we  both 
concluded  that  if  the  fighting  was  still  going  on,  it 
indicated  a  desperate  condition  of  affairs,  the  end 
of  which  no  one  could  foretell.  We  were  between 
three  and  four  miles  from  the  center  and  fully  five 
from  the  extreme  right  of  our  army,  but  were  sepa- 
rated from  it  by  a  dense  tangle  of  forest  trees  and 
underbrush  which,  while  deadening  the  sound,  re- 
lieved it  of  none  of  its  ominous  quality.  I  sent  an 
aid-de-camp  to  investigate,  but  he  was  gone  nearly 
an  hour,  during  the  whole  of  which  time  the  distant 
roar  continued  without  intermission.  When  he 
brought  the  welcome  information  that  the  fighting 
had  long  since  ceased,  that  all  was  quiet  along  the 
army's  front,  and  that  the  noise  borne  in  upon  us 
came  from  the  wagon  trains  moving  on  the  turn- 
pike and  plank  roads  toward  Fredericksburg,  we 
were  relieved  from  our  greatest  anxiety,  and  For- 
syth returned  at  once  to  his  own  camp.  Shortly  aft- 
erwards, he  sent  an  order  from  Sheridan  directing 
me  to  move  as  soon  as  I  could  see  my  way  to  the 
Germanna  ford  road  and  ascertain  what  the  enemy 
were  doing  in  that  quarter.  Quite  as  anxious  as 
either  Grant,  Meade,  or  Sheridan  could  be,  I  was 
off  betimes  and  by  eight  o'clock  had  scoured  the 
entire  region  threaded  by  that  road,  almost  back 
to  the  Rapidan.  I  found  no  sign  of  the  enemy,  and 
as  soon  as  I  satisfied  myself  that  he  had  no  ade- 
quate idea  of  the  excitement  and  confusion  his  turn- 
ing movement  had  created  the  night  before,  and  that 
the  crisis  was  over,  I  sent  the  proper  information  to 

388 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

Sheridan  and  then  rode  rapidly  to  army  headquar- 
ters, not  only  to  reassure  our  commanders  by  a 
personal  report  but  to  see  for  myself  how  Grant 
had  so  far  borne  the  strain  and  responsibility  of 
the  great  campaign  into  which  our  advance  had 
plunged  us. 

I  found  him  surrounded  by  his  staff  on  a  cleared 
knoll  at  the  edge  of  the  forest,  a  short  distance 
from  the  old  Wilderness  Tavern.  Meade's  head- 
quarters occupied  a  portion  of  the  same  clearing  a 
little  to  the  southeast.  Dismounting  at  the  bottom 
of  the  hillock  thirty  or  forty  yards  from  his  camp 
fire  and  handing  the  bridle  to  my  orderly  I  started 
up  the  hill,  when  Grant,  catching  sight  of  me,  threw 
up  his  hand  and  cheerily  called  out :  ' '  It 's  all  right, 
Wilson;  the  army  is  moving  toward  Richmond  I" 
He  evidently  read  anxiety  and  apprehension  in  my 
countenance,  knowing  that  I  would  favor  advancing 
rather  than  falling  back,  and  he  made  haste  to  reas- 
sure me.  I  have  always  regarded  this  as  the  great- 
est compliment  Grant  ever  paid  me,  except  that  con- 
tained in  his  letter  of  October  4,  1864,  to  Sher- 
man, for  it  showed  that  he  knew  what  my  advice 
would  be  and  wished  to  anticipate  it  with  the  cheer- 
ing information  cited  above. 

I  found  him  in  a  state  of  perfect  composure, 
while  his  staff,  with  the  exception  of  Rawlins  and 
Bowers,  were  engaged  in  breaking  camp  and  getting 
ready  to  take  the  road  to  the  front.  After  a  few 
minutes'  conversation,  in  which  I  explained  that 
the  rebels  had  evidently  not  understood  the  extent 
of  their  success  the  night  before  and  were  making 
no  movement  on  our  right  to  improve  it,  I  strongly 
favored  the  offensive  as  the  surest  way  of  bringing 

389 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

the  enemy  to  a  general  engagement  in  the  open 
field,  and  was  gratified  beyond  measure  to  find  that 
this  had  already  become  Grant's  settled  policy  and 
determination. 

A  few  minutes  later  I  withdrew  to  a  private  con- 
versation with  Eawlins  and  Bowers.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  those  officers  had  been  with  Grant 
from  the  first  of  the  war,  had  seen  him  in  every  bat- 
tle, and  knew  his  idiosyncrasies  better  than  any  one 
else.  From  our  first  acquaintance  they  had  no  se- 
crets from  me,  and  on  this  occasion  they  made  haste 
to  say  that  the  night  before  had  tested  Grant's  for- 
titude and  self-control  more  seriously  than  any 
event  of  his  past  career.  Eawlins  explained  that 
the  first  news  which  reached  headquarters  from  the 
right  gave  the  impression  that  an  overwhelming  dis- 
aster had  befallen  our  line,  and  that,  although  Grant 
received  it  with  his  usual  self-possession,  the  coming 
of  officer  after  officer  with  additional  details  soon 
made  it  apparent  that  the  General  was  confronted 
by  the  greatest  crisis  of  his  life.  Still  he  gave  his 
orders  calmly  and  coherently  without  any  external 
sign  of  undue  tension  or  agitation.  But  when  all 
proper  measures  had  been  taken  and  there  was 
nothing  further  to  do  but  to  wait,  both  Eawlins  and 
Bowers  concurred  in  the  statement  that  Grant  went 
into  his  tent,  and,  throwing  himself  face  downward 
on  his  cot,  gave  way  to  the  greatest  emotion,  but 
without  uttering  any  word  of  doubt  or  discourage- 
ment. What  was  in  his  heart  can  only  be  inferred, 
but  from  what  they  said  nothing  can  be  more  cer- 
tain than  that  he  was  stirred  to  the  very  depths  of 
his  soul.  How  long  he  remained  under  extreme  ten- 
sion neither  Eawlins  nor  Bowers  stated,  but  they 

390 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

were  clear  and  emphatic  in  declaring  that  they  had 
never  before  seen  him  so  deeply  moved  as  upon  that 
occasion,  and  that  not  till  it  became  apparent  that 
the  enemy  was  not  pressing  his  advantage  did  he 
entirely  recover  his  perfect  composure. 

Others  who  knew  him  less  intimately  and  had 
never  seen  him  in  battle  have  stated  that  he  showed 
no  emotion  whatever  in  that  momentous  emergency, 
but  received  the  news  of  the  disaster  which  threat- 
ened to  overwhelm  his  army  and  put  an  end  to  his 
career  with  Spartan  calmness  and  equanimity,  and 
that,  within  ten  minutes  after  receiving  the  last 
alarming  report,  "he  was  sleeping  as  soundly  and 
peacefully  as  an  infant."1 

I  have  always  regarded  the  statement  of  Eawlins 
and  Bowers  as  not  only  far  more  reasonable,  but 
far  more  creditable  to  Grant  than  the  one  last 
quoted,  for  it  shows  that  after  all  he  was  not  the 
stolid  and  indifferent  man,  without  sensibility  or 
emotion,  which  such  impassibility  at  such  a  crisis 
would  have  indicated.  With  the  certainty  which 
soon  followed  the  first  alarming  accounts  that  the 
enemy  were  not  pressing  their  advantage,  it  was 
but  natural  that  Grant  should  recover  his  compo- 
sure. It  was  still  more  natural  that  with  the  soul 
of  a  true  hero  he  should  resolve  to  resume  the  ag- 
gressive and  "fight  it  out  on  that  line  if  it  takes 
all  summer."  As  it  turned  out,  this  was  exactly 
the  right  course  to  adopt  and  to  adhere  to,  not  only 
for  the  whole  summer,  but  till  the  end  of  the  war. 
It  was  doubtless  during  the  trying  night  of  May 
6  that  Grant  reached  the  sound  conclusions  which 

1 " Campaigning  with  Grant,"  by  Gen.  Horace  Porter,  p.  67, 
et  seq. 

391 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

he  began  the  next  day  by  his  forward  movement  to 
put  into  effect,  and  of  which,  by  his  memorable  dis- 
patch of  May  11,  he  made  haste  to  reassure  the 
Government,  and  the  people.1 

In  his  interview  with  me  on  the  morning  of  the 
7th,  he  summed  up  the  situation  with  the  character- 
istic statement  that,  although  we  had  not  beaten  the 
enemy,  the  enemy  had  certainly  not  beaten  us,  that 
while  we  had  lost  many  officers  and  men  the  enemy 
must  have  lost  as  many,  and  that  if  we  were  justi- 
fied in  fighting  him  for  two  days  as  we  had  done,  we 
were  still  more  justified  in  continuing  the  fight  till 
we  had  gained  a  complete  victory  no  matter  how 
long  it  took.  In  conversation  with  me  he  com- 
mended the  part  the  cavalry  had  played,  but  ex- 
pressed dissatisfaction  with  the  slowness  and  the 
caution  of  the  infantry  commanders.  While  he 
made  no  allusion  whatever  to  his  emotions  of  the 
night  before,  he  spoke  with  calmness  and  confidence 
of  yet  forcing  Lee  to  give  battle  in  the  open  country 
beyond  the  Wilderness,  and  of  beating  him  or  com- 
pelling him  to  retreat.  With  the  conviction  that 
this  courageous  policy  was  not  only  sound  but  would 
ensure  victory  in  the  end,  I  rejoined  my  division 
with  a  lighter  heart  and  greater  confidence  than  I 
had  felt  at  any  time  since  crossing  the  Eapidan. 

Having,  in  my  "Life  of  Grant,"2  given  as  full 
an  account  of  the  campaign  and  battles  in  the  Wil- 
derness as  seems  to  be  necessary  for  the  general 
reader,  I  now  return  to  incidents  of  a  more  personal 
nature. 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  2,  3,  4. 

2 ''Life  of  Ulysses  S.  Grant,"  by  Dana  &  Wilson,  Gurdon  Bill 
&  Co.,  Springfield,  Mass.,  etc.,  1868. 

392 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

Generally  speaking,  my  division  held  the  left 
and  front  of  the  advance.  It  covered  the  movement 
of  Grant's  left  in  the  direction  of  Spottsylvania 
Court  House  till  the  cavalry  corps  cut  loose  from 
the  army  and  began  its  independent  operations 
against  the  railroad  which  connected  Lee  and  his 
army  with  their  base  at  Kichmond.  Early  on  the 
7th  I  occupied  Aldrich's  Farm,  and,  crossing  the 
Eiver  Ny,  drove  back  the  rebel  pickets  toward 
Spottsylvania  Court  House.  But  the  Infantry 
failing  to  come  to  my  support,  as  I  supposed  it 
would,  night  put  an  end  to  my  operations.  My  first 
brigade  bivouacked  at  Tabernacle  Church,  and  my 
second  at  Silver's  Farm.  The  night  passed  without 
incident,  for  the  enemy  had  not  yet  made  his  appear- 
ance in  front.  I  was,  however,  directed  to  continue 
my  movement  at  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
8th  through  Spottsylvania  Court  House  toward 
Snell's  Bridge.  By  nine  o'clock  I  had  brushed 
Wickham's  brigade  of  Stuart's  cavalry  out  of  the 
way  and  occupied  the  court  house.  By  a  rapid  and 
vigorous  advance,  I  captured  forty-five  prisoners 
from  the  rear  and  right  of  Longstreet  's  corps  which 
had  already  passed  to  the  left  of  the  village,  and  re- 
captured a  number  of  our  men  whom  the  enemy  hadj 
captured  from  our  advancing  infantry  earlier  that 
morning  or  late  the  day  before.  A  hasty  examina- 
tion of  the  prisoners  convinced  me  that  I  was  in 
Longstreet 's  rear,  marching  by  a  cut-off  road  to 
forestall  Grant  in  his  movement  on  Spottsylvania. 
It  was  evident,  therefore,  that,  unless  promptly  sup- 
ported by  Burnside  or  other  infantry  from  the  rear, 
I  should  have  to  give  up  the  advantageous  position 
I  had  so  easily  gained.     Although  neither  cavalry 

393 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

nor  infantry  came  to  my  support,  I  held  the  court- 
house till  eleven  o'clock,  when  an  order  came  from 
Sheridan  directing  me  not  to  go  there  at  all,  but  to 
fall  back  by  the  road  I  had  advanced  upon  to  a 
place  marked  on  the  map  as  "Alsop's  Gate."  As 
the  perils  were  thickening,  and  reenforeement  no- 
where in  sight,  I  withdrew  to  the  point  indicated 
without  further  encountering  the  enemy.1 

Thus  it  will  be  observed  that  my  division  was 
the  only  part  of  Grant's  army  that  ever  occupied 
Spottsylvania  Court  House  till  Lee  had  given  up 
his  lines  in  front  of  that  place  and  withdrawn  to- 
ward Richmond.  But  it  has  always  been  my  con- 
viction that  had  Burnside  pushed  promptly  through 
the  Wilderness  to  the  left  and  front  he  might  have 
joined  me  in  time  to  make  good  the  position  I  had 
gained.  With  such  a  union  of  cavalry  and  infantry 
in  Lee's  right  rear,  there  would  have  been  nothing 
left  for  him  but  to  fall  back  to  a  new  position  be- 
yond the  next  river,  or  suffer  an  overwhelming  de- 
feat. The  bloody  battles  which  took  place  for  the 
capture  and  defense  of  Spottsylvania  Court  House 
would  have  been  avoided  and  many  thousand  lives 
would  have  been  spared  to  continue  operations 
under  much  more  favorable  circumstances.  It  was 
a  great  opportunity  lost,  but  rapid  infantry  march- 
ing in  those  days  was  not  in  fashion.  Upon  this 
particular  occasion,  no  one  in  authority  seems  to 
have  given  the  slightest  thought  to  the  opportunity 
offered,  nor  to  have  had  the  slightest  idea  as  to  the 
value  of  celerity  in  such  operations.  The  custom  of 
out-marching  and  out-flanking  the  enemy  had  not  yet 
made  its  appearance  in  that  army,  and  even  after 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  991,  871,  878. 

394 


GKANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

it  came  it  was   of  painfully  slow  and  uncertain 
growth.1 

In  the  direct  movement  from  Todd's  Tavern  to- 
ward Spottsylvania  Court  House  the  other  two 
divisions  of  the  cavalry  corps  had  the  advance. 
They  were  expected  to  clear  the  road  to  Snell's 
Bridge  and  at  or  near  that  place  to  form  a  junction 
with  me,  and  although  they  started  early  the  night 
before,  May  7,  they  soon  met  the  enemy  and,  be- 
coming hotly  engaged,  were  forced  to  stay  their  ad- 
vance. Stuart's  cavalry  got  there  first.  Sheridan 
never  reached  Snell's  Bridge,  but  was  shortly  forced 
to  one  side  by  the  resistance  of  the  enemy  and  the 
oncoming  of  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps.  Warren, 
commanding  the  Fifth,  years  afterwards  complained 
bitterly  of  the  way  in  which  Torbert  and  Gregg  de- 
layed the  march  of  his  weightier  columns  and  com- 
pelled them  between  waking  and  sleeping  through- 
out a  long  and  tiresome  night  to  creep  slowly  to 
the  front.  He  always  contended  that  the  cavalry 
should  have  kept  together  on  the  left  flank  and  given 
the  infantry  a  clear  road.  As  it  was,  both  the  Fifth 
and  the  Sixth  Corps  were  compelled  more  than  once 
to  halt  and  develop  line  of  battle  during  the  night. 
With  all  they  could  do,  they  made  but  poor  prog- 
ress, and  by  daylight  found  themselves  stopped 
altogether.  It  was  shortly  after  this  that  Meade 
rode  upon  the  field,  but  the  opposing  lines  were  al- 
ready formed,  and,  after  looking  over  the  situa- 
tion, which  was  now  clearly  one  of  a  deadlock 
or  an  impasse,  Meade  turned  to  Warren  and, 
as  related  several  years  afterwards  by  the  latter, 
said: 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  18,  190,  191,  326,  871,  907. 
395 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

"Warren,  I  want  you  to  cooperate  with  Sedg- 
wick and  see  what  can  be  done." 

Whereupon  Warren,  who  had  been  Meade's 
chief-of-staff,  and  had  doubtless  been  accustomed 
to  talking  plainly  with  him,  said: 

"General  Meade,  I'll  be  God  d d  if  I'll  co- 
operate with  Sedgwick  or  anybody  else.  You  are 
the  commander  of  this  army  and  can  give  your  or- 
ders and  I  will  obey  them ;  or  you  can  put  Sedgwick 
in  command  and  he  can  give  the  orders  and  I  will 
obey  them ;  or  you  can  put  me  in  command  and  I  will 
give  the  orders  and  Sedgwick  shall  obey  them;  but 

I'll  be  God  d d  if  I'll  cooperate  with  General 

Sedgwick  or  anybody  else." 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  Meade  took  no  notice 
of  this  extraordinary  speech,  but,  leaving  the  com- 
mand largely  to  Sedgwick,  who  was  the  senior,  de- 
voted himself  to  bringing  more  troops  to  the  front. 
It  was  while  looking  at  the  enemy's  position  and 
encouraging  his  men  the  next  day  that  the  heroic 
Sedgwick  was  shot  through  the  head  and  instantly 
killed. 

It  is  scarcely  conceivable  that  such  language 
could  have  been  used  to  the  commander  of  an  army 
by  one  of  his  subordinates,  and  when  I  told  Warren 
that  if  I  had  been  in  Meade's  place  I  should  have 
sent  him  to  the  rear  in  arrest,  he  replied  that  he 
knew  to  whom  he  was  talking,  and  then  added,  with 
pensive  sadness,  that  if  he  had  been  arrested  at  that 
time  it  would  probably  have  saved  him  from  a 
greater  misfortune  afterwards.  In  this  he  was 
doubtless  alluding  to  the  fact  that  Sheridan,  at  the 
close  of  the  battle  of  Five  Forks,  relieved  him  from 
command  for  hesitation  and  slowness  which  might 

396 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

never  have  been  charged  against  him  had  Meade 
properly  resented  the  insubordinate  language 
quoted  above. 

Warren,  it  is  but  fair  to  observe,  was  a  gallant 
West  Point  officer  of  great  experience  and  fine  abil- 
ity, who  was  generally  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
capable  corps  commanders  our  army  ever  had,  but 
he  was  captious  and  impatient  of  control,  and  per- 
haps naturally  became  more  and  more  accustomed 
to  the  use  of  violent  language  as  he  beheld  with 
what  fatuity  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  com- 
manded. Certain  it  is  that  toward  the  latter  part 
of  his  career  he  hardly  ever  received  an  order  which 
he  did  not  criticize  nor  a  suggestion  which  he  did 
not  resent,  but  I  am  persuaded  that  no  man  in  the 
army  knew  better  than  he  the  difference  between 
discussion  looking  to  delay  or  to  change  of  plan 
and  prompt  obedience  to  a  positive  order  from  his 
superior.  On  the  occasion  mentioned  above,  he 
doubtless  meant  to  rebuke  Meade,  who  had  appar- 
ently directed  cooperation  without  carefully  consid- 
ering that  it  was  a  formless  and  almost  meaningless 
use  of  words  where  positive  orders  would  have  been 
far  more  creditable  to  himself  as  well  as  more  cer- 
tain to  secure  the  best  efforts  of  the  general  to 
whom  they  were  directed. 

This  incident  recalls  another  in  which  Warren 
took  part  a  few  weeks  later  and  in  which  he  made 
himself  most  disagreeable  to  me  and  my  staff.  It 
was  shortly  after  the  costly  and  unfortunate  battle 
at  Cold  Harbor.  Sheridan  had  been  detached  with 
two  divisions  to  break  up  the  railroads  north  of 
Richmond,  while  I  was  left  to  cover  the  passage  of 
the  Chickahominy  and  the  march  to  the  James.    The 

397 


UNDER   THE    OLD    FLAG 

orders  for  this  movement,  as  I  construed  them,  con- 
templated that  the  first  pontoon  bridge  should  be 
laid  at  the  site  of  Long  Bridge  after  nightfall  un- 
der Warren's  supervision,  and,  that  done,  I  was 
to  cross  and  push  out  with  Chapman's  brigade 
toward  White  Oak  Swamp  and  Eichmond,  and  thus 
cover  and  screen  the  movements  of  the  infantry 
behind. 

In  accordance  with  my  invariable  custom,  my 
command  was  mounted  and  at  the  appointed  place 
on  the  minute,  but  the  pontoniers  had  not  laid  the 
bridge,  and  the  advance  was  correspondingly  de- 
layed. It  was  soon  dark,  and,  as  the  bridge  site  was 
near  at  hand,  I  naturally  kept  close  watch  upon  it 
in  order  that  I  might  get  under  way  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment,  but,  as  the  pontoniers  were  doing 
nothing,  I  sent  an  officer  to  Warren,  calling  his  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  bridge  was  not  ready, 
and  my  advance  could  not  begin.  As  this  produced 
no  effect  I  shortly  sent  another  officer  with  a  simi- 
lar message  and  the  same  result.  It  was  now  after 
nine  o'clock,  and  the  delay  was  becoming  serious. 
My  impatience  was  increasing,  and  this  finally 
caused  me  to  send  Lieutenant  Yard,  my  junior  aid- 
de-camp,  with  a  still  more  urgent  message  and  an 
injunction  to  ride  fast.  He  was  back  in  a  few  min- 
utes, his  face  flaming  and  his  eyes  suffused  with 
tears.  He  was  but  a  boy,  and  although  much  agi- 
tated by  the  incident  reported  at  once : 

"General,  I  gave  your  compliments  and  message 
to  General  Warren,  exactly  as  you  gave  them  to 
me,  but,  instead  of  receiving  me  politely,  he  cursed 
me  out  and  then  with  a  loud  and  insulting  oath 
said:     'Tell  General  Wilson  if  he  can't  lay  that 

398 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

bridge  to  get  out  of  the  way  with  his  damned  cav- 
alry and  I'll  lay  it,'  " 

While  I  was  amazed  at  this  rough  and  discour- 
teous message,  I  lost  no  time  in  sending  my  three 
West  Point  officers,  Andrews,  Beaumont,  and  Noyes, 
either  of  whom  was  quite  as  competent  as  Warren 
to  lay  a  bridge,  all  at  once  to  take  charge  of  the  job, 
while  my  Adjutant  Captain  Siebert,  with  ready  alac- 
rity, threw  a  detachment  across  the  creek  on  drift 
logs  and  overhanging  trees  and  drove  the  enemy's 
pickets  from  the  opposite  bank.  The  operation  was 
a  simple  and  effective  one.  The  bridge  was  soon 
ready  and  although  the  night  was  well  advanced 
the  cavalry  crossed  at  once  and  pushed  the  enemy 
rapidly  back  upon  his  supports.  The  next  day  we 
advanced  to  the  Charles  City  crossroads,  where 
Warren,  with  his  leading  division,  joined  us  shortly 
after  sunup.  As  I  had  not  seen  him  personally  for 
several  days,  he  not  only  greeted  me  in  complimen- 
tary terms,  but,  much  to  my  surprise,  extended  his 
hand  politely,  as  though  nothing  had  passed  to  dis- 
turb our  relations.  Eecalling  his  rude  message  the 
night  before  I  declined  to  shake  hands,  coldly  re- 
marking that  he  must  excuse  me.  Thereupon  he 
asked  what  was  the  matter,  to  which  I  replied  I  did 
not  care  to  have  anything  to  do  with  a  general  who 
would  insult  an  aid-de-camp  and  send  such  a  mes- 
sage as  he  had  sent  me  the  night  before.  To  my 
surprise  he  did  not  seem  to  remember  clearly,  and, 
declaring  that  he  didn't  mean  an  offense,  offered 
what  was  evidently  a  sincere  apology  for  his  rude- 
ness. 

This,  of  course,  closed  the  incident  for  the  time, 
but  a  few  days  later  I  found  myself  at  Grant's  head- 

399 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

quarters  near  the  crossing  of  the  James  Eiver.  The 
campaign  had  not  been  going  as  rapidly  or  as  sat- 
isfactorily as  he  wished.  The  different  army  corps 
had  begun  to  show  the  qualities  of  the  balky  team 
to  which  he  afterward  likened  them,  and  success 
was  far  from  presenting  itself  as  it  had  on  every 
field  of  the  west.  The  general  was  evidently  feeling 
the  strain  of  the  situation  and,  in  the  resulting 
frame  of  mind,  said : 

"Wilson,  what  is  the  matter  with  this  army?" 

I  replied  at  once: 

"General,  there  is  a  great  deal  the  matter  with 
it,  but  I  can  tell  you  much  more  easily  how  to 
cure  it." 

Whereupon  he  asked  me:    "How?" 

"Send  for  Parker,  the  Indian  chief,  and, 
after  giving  him  a  tomahawk,  a  scalping  knife, 
and  a  gallon  of  the  worst  whiskey  the  Com- 
missary Department  can  supply,  send  him  out 
with  orders  to  bring  in  the  scalps  of  major 
generals. ' ' 

This  brought  a  smile  to  the  General's  face, 
promptly  followed  by  the  question:    "Whose?" 

Quite  as  promptly,  I  replied: 

"Oh,  the  first  he  comes  to,  and  so  on  in  succes- 
sion till  he  gets  at  least  a  dozen. ! ' 

The  General  evidently  understood  what  I  meant 
and  far  from  resenting  my  suggestion,  without  a  mo- 
menta pause,  asked:  "But  where  shall  we  get  gen- 
erals to  fill  their  places?" 

To  which  I  replied: 

"Oh,  that's  easy!  To  use  a  favorite  phrase  of 
yours,  every  brigadier  in  this  army  'will  step  up 
and  take  sugar  in  his'n';"  by  which  I  meant  such 

400 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

as  might  be  selected  would  promptly  accept  any 
higher  grade  coming  his  way. 

With  a  smile  showing  that  he  understood  the  al- 
lusion, his  face  grew  more  serious  as  he  asked  if  I 
had  any  particular  person  in  mind.  And  thereupon 
I  described  Warren's  conduct  the  night  we  crossed 
the  Chickahominy.  As  though  he  had  heard  com- 
plaints of  that  officer  before,  the  General  added 
at  once:  "Well,  I'll  take  care  of  Warren  anyhow.' ' 
And  from  that  day  forward,  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve he  kept  Warren  under  close  observation. 

The  simple  fact  was  that  the  army  organization 
itself  was  bad  throughout.  The  staff  arrangements 
were  sadly  defective  and  orders  for  movements 
were  frequently  lacking  in  detail  and  coherence, 
and  were,  therefore,  executed  poorly  and  ineffect- 
ually. With  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  composed  of 
the  Second,  Fifth  and  Sixth  Corps  and  cavalry 
corps,  with  Hunter's  independent  force  in  the  Val- 
ley of  Virginia,  with  Butler's  Army  of  the  James, 
based  on  Fortress  Monroe,  and  with  Burnside's 
corps  independent  of  these  three  separate  organi- 
zations, operations  were  generally  lacking  in  co- 
ordination and  coherence,  if  not  in  vigor.  Grant's 
staff,  while  composed  of  able  and  energetic  men, 
was  not  organized  to  supervise  or  direct  military 
movements.  Bawlins,  his  chief-of-staff,  although 
from  civil  life,  possessed  as  much  vigor  and  prac- 
tical experience  as  any  volunteer  in  the  army,  but 
soon  after  coming  east  he  began  to  lose  control  over 
policies  as  well  as  over  details.  He  was,  besides, 
in  bad  health  and  naturally  felt  some  hesitation  in 
asserting  himself  in  the  presence  of  others  and  es- 
pecially of  the  regulars  who  now  constituted  the 

401 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

larger  part  of  Grant's  working  staff.  Besides  it 
was  Grant's  declared  policy  to  give  his  orders  in 
general  terms,  leaving  those  to  whom  they  were  di- 
rected free  to  carry  out  the  details  in  their  own 
way.  The  result  with  so  big  and  complicated  a  ma- 
chine was  far  from  satisfactory. 

I  have  always  thought  that  had  Grant  at  the 
start  consolidated  the  various  corps  in  Virginia  into 
a  single  army  and  organized  his  staff,  not  only  for 
gathering  information  and  making  orders,  but  for 
supervising  their  execution,  the  results  must  have 
been  far  better.  With  corps  and  division  com- 
manders differing  in  talents,  temperament,  and  idio- 
syncrasies and  their  forces  spread  out  in  a  thinly 
settled  country  abounding  in  rivers,  creeks,  forests, 
and  dirt  roads,  it  was  natural  that  they  should  look 
at  matters  from  different  points  of  view,  that  they 
should  differ  in  regard  to  the  best  way  of  reaching 
and  engaging  the  enemy,  and  that  their  final  move- 
ments should  be  neither  synchronous  nor  well  de- 
signed to  accomplish  the  results  at  which  all  were 
aiming.  With  such  officers  as  Sherman,  McPher- 
son,  and  Thomas,  each  commanding  an  army  corps, 
coherence  was  fairly  obtained,  and  it  was  safe  to 
leave  minor  details  to  be  worked  out  by  them,  but 
in  Virginia,  with  a  much  wider  and  more  difficult 
terrain  and  much  greater  numbers,  a  different  policy 
and  a  compact  organization  of  the  staff  as  well  as 
of  the  armies  would  doubtless  have  brought  about 
better  results. 

While  the  strategy  and  logistics  of  the  Overland 
campaign,  as  it  was  called,  were  good,  if  not  bril- 
liant, the  tactics,  both  minor  and  grand,  were  of  the 
simplest  kind,  the  infantry  marching  was  in  nearly 

402 


GRANT'S  OVERLAND  CAMPAIGN 

every  instance  culpably  slow,  the  order  of  battle 
was  generally  parallel  and  in  single  line,  and,  as  the 
enemy  was  nearly  always  strongly  entrenched  and 
on  the  defensive,  the  attacking  forces  lost  heavily 
from  the  start.  They  naturally  grew  more  and  more 
timid  as  they  advanced  into  the  enemy's  country. 
Then,  too,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  corps  com- 
manders and  troops  were  somewhat  inclined  to  doubt 
Grant's  superiority  over  the  generals  who  had  pre- 
viously led  them.  Many  openly  declared  that  he 
had  not  so  far  met  either  the  Confederacy's  best 
generals  or  its  best  troops,  and  more  than  once 
good  patriotic  officers  openly  expressed  the  opinion 
that  Grant  would  find  Lee  a  very  much  more  diffi- 
cult man  to  beat  than  Buckner,  Pemberton,  Joe 
Johnston,  or  Bragg.  A  few  went  even  further  and 
said:  "When  Lee  takes  command  of  both  armies, 
as  he  has  done  several  times  before,  we  shall  go 
rattling  back  to  the  Potomac.' \ 

This  feeling  was  not  allayed,  but  rather 
strengthened,  by  the  earlier  events  of  the  Overland 
campaign,  and  it  was  still  arousing  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  timid,  when  Gordon's  turning  movement 
overwhelmed  the  right  flank  of  the  Sixth  Corps  in 
the  Wilderness.  At  all  events,  from  that  time  forth 
till  the  beginning  of  the  final  campaign  next  year 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  seemed  generally  to  lack 
both  elan  and  coherence,  while  its  attacks  were  made 
with  decreasing  vigor  and  determination.  Of  course, 
there  were  notable  exceptions,  such  as  the  attack 
of  Hancock  and  Upton  at  Spottsylvania,  and  of 
Baldy  Smith  and  Upton  at  Cold  Harbor,  but,  withal, 
it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  one  thing  which  held  the 
army  to  its  bloody  work  was  its  superiority  of  num- 

403 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

bers  and  resources  and  Grants  unshakable  resolu- 
tion to  continue  the  campaign  till  he  had  worn  out 
Lee  and  his  army  by  persistence,  superiority  of  num- 
bers, and  "mere  attrition,"  if  not  by  superior 
strategy  and  fighting.1 

1See   Grant's  final  report,   O.   R.,  also  "Personal   Memoirs  of 
U.  S.  Grant,"  Vol.  II,  p.  555. 


404 


XVI 

GRANT   IN   THE   WILDERNESS 

Sheridan's  raid  against  Lee's  communications — Battle  of 
Yellow  Tavern — Death  of  J.  E.  B.  Stuart — Affair  near 
Richmond — Passage  of  the  Chickahominy — James 
River — Return  to  Grant's  army — Turn  Lee's  left  at 
Jericho  Mills — Meet  Grant  and  Rawlins — Army  gossip. 

The  infantry  and  artillery  of  the  two  armies  at 
last  facing  each  other  in  the  Wilderness,  in  what 
has  been  aptly  called  a  death-grapple,  there  was 
little  required  of  the  cavalry  but  to  come  together 
on  the  extreme  left  and  front,  to  cover  any  turning 
movement  Grant  might  make  around  Lee's  right,  or 
to  cut  loose  entirely,  throwing  itself  with  all  its 
weight  against  Lee's  cavalry  and  his  communica- 
tions. For  the  first  time,  Sheridan  had  his  corps, 
fully  twelve  thousand  men  in  the  saddle,  united  and 
well  in  hand.  Each  division  had  filled  its  part  in 
the  preliminary  operations,  but,  working  separately, 
had  done  but  little  more  than  develop  the  enemy's 
movements,  while  screening  our  own. 

At  dawn,  May  9,  we  began  a  cooperating 
campaign  against  Lee's  communications  with  Rich- 
mond. The  redoubtable  but  over-praised  Stuart, 
with  two  divisions,  somewhat  strung  out,  was 
promptly  in  pursuit,  but,  withal,  we  were  able  to 

405 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

make  way  toward  the  south  without  material  diffi- 
fTculty  or  delay.  We  found  the  country  open  and 
fairly  well  supplied  with  food  and  forage,  but  the 
old  Virginia  farmsteads  showed  the  usual  signs  of 
poverty  and  exhaustion.  The  landscape,  like  that 
of  the  entire  Piedmont  region,  was  most  beautiful, 
the  country  fine  and  rolling,  and  both  fields  and 
streams  fringed  with  growing  timber.  We  found 
but  few  houses  with  any  pretensions  to  elegant  archi- 
tecture and  none  to  prosperity.  The  white  men 
of  military  age  were  all  in  the  army,  while  even  the 
old  men  and  women  generally  fled  upon  our  ap- 
proach. Even  the  negroes  and  the  farmstock  hid 
'   in  the  woods  till  we  passed. 

My  division  had  the  lead  the  first  day,  camping 
that  night  near  Anderson's  Bridge,  on  the  North 
Anna  Eiver.  At  daylight  on  the  10th  I  encountered 
and  drove  the  enemy's  advanced  detachments  to  the 
south  side,  covering  the  passage  of  the  Second  Divi- 
sion, the  rear  guard  of  which  became  strongly  en- 
gaged with  the  rebel  cavalry  coming  down  from 
Lee's  army.  It  had  discovered  our  movements,  but 
was  too  weak  in  front  to  delay  us  seriously.  All 
that  day,  however,  we  had  sharp  skirmishing  to 
the  South  Anna  Eiver,  which  we  crossed  at  the 
Ground  Squirrel  Bridge  with  but  little  trouble.  The 
whole  corps  bivouacked  that  night '  south  of  the 
bridge,  and  early  the  next  morning  continued  its 
march  toward  Eichmond,  the  first  division  in  ad- 
vance, the  second  bringing  up  the  rear.  Although 
both  front  and  rear  were  skirmishing  more  or  less 
actively  throughout  the  day,  my  men  in  the  middle 
of  the  column  did  not  fire  a  shot  till  the  afternoon, 
when  we  came  up  with  the  enemy  under  Stuart  in 

406 


GRANT    IN   THE   WILDERNESS 

force  near  the  Yellow  Tavern,  on  the  main  Bich- 
mond  road,  ten  or  twelve  miles  north  of  the  city. 
Custer's  brigade  was  first  to  develop  the  enemy's 
position  without  becoming  actively  engaged.  As  my 
division  was  following  closely,  with  Chapman's  bri- 
gade in  the  lead,  we  went  rapidly  into  line  on  Cus- 
ter's left.  It  was  evident  from  the  deliberate  move- 
ments and  strong  show  of  force  that  a  serious  fight 
was  at  hand,  and  with  that  confidence  and  dash  which 
always  come  with  the  consciousness  of  strength,  a 
general  rush  was  made  upon  the  enemy  posted  in 
the  edge  of  the  field  beyond  the  Tavern,  and  in  an 
incredibly  short  time  we  overbore  his  line,  carried 
his  position,  and  drove  his  men  in  confusion  from 
the  field.  It  was  a  spirited  affair,  in  which  Colonel 
Chapman,  the  brigade  commander,  and  Colonel 
Preston  of  the  Third  Vermont  led  his  splendid  regi- 
ment in  a  mounted  charge  with  flashing  sabers 
against  the  enemy's  center,  while  I  directed  the  dis- 
mounted men  against  his  right  with  the  result  that 
we  captured  his  guns,  crumpled  up  his  dismounted 
line,  and  broke  it  into  hopeless  fragments.  Cus- 
ter, with  the  First  Michigan  mounted  and  the  rest 
of  his  brigade  dismounted,  charged  abreast  of  Chap- 
man farther  to  the  right  and  was  also  fully  success- 
ful, but  while  my  men  were  pressing  the  enemy  Cus- 
ter halted  to  gather  up  the  spoils  and  to  sound 
paeans  of  victory.1 

From  the  accounts  of  this  brilliant  affair,  which 
soon  found  their  way  into  the  newspapers,  it  might 
have  been  supposed  that  Custer's  brigade  did  all 
the  fighting  and  was  entitled  to  all  the  credit,  while 
as  a  matter  of  fact  my  whole  division  was  present, 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  790,  879,  898. 
407 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

and  it  was  well  understood  by  all  who  saw  it  that 
the  modest  Chapman  did  fully  half  the  fighting  and 
was  entitled  to  fully  half  the  credit.  In  the  general 
melee  following  the  first  charge  every  man  did  his 
duty,  and  much  gallantry  was  displayed,  but,  after 
all,  the  victory  was  far  more  easily  gained  than 
might  have  been  expected.  The  truth  is  that  while 
we  had  only  about  three  thousand  men  actually  en- 
gaged, supported  by  seven  thousand  more  within 
close  call,  Stuart  had  not  more  than  two  thousand 
five  hundred  men  in  our  front  under  his  personal 
command,  while  his  other  division  was  too  far  to 
the  rear  to  give  him  any  help.  It  will  be  seen,  there- 
fore, that  the  advantage  was  from  the  first  in  our 
favor,  and  that  it  was  not  a  battle  a  outrance,  be- 
tween Sheridan  and  Stuart,  nor  between  their  re- 
spective corps  on  a  fair  and  open  field.  But  it  was 
not  without  decided  and  important  results,  for,  as 
we  learned  later,  Stuart,  who  commanded  in  person, 
received  a  mortal  wound  early  in  the  fight  and  was 
carried  into  Richmond,  where  he  died  the  next  day. 
It  was  this  fact  that  made  the  affair  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Confederate  cavalry.  Stuart, 
knowing  the  defenseless  condition  of  Richmond  and 
assuming  that  it  was  Sheridan's  objective,  staked 
his  all  in  vainly  trying  to  check  his  antagonist's 
dashing  onset.  While  the  calm  and  imperturbable 
Wade  Hampton,  a  far  steadier  and  more  judicious 
leader,  succeeded  Stuart  in  command,  it  soon  be- 
came known  to  us  that  the  Confederate  cavalry  as 
well  as  the  Confederate  infantry  in  Virginia  were 
overweighted,  and  therefore  destined  to  be  com- 
pletely defeated  in  the  end. 

We  naturally  thought  at  first  that  Stuart 's  whole 
408 


GRANT    IN   THE   WILDERNESS 

corps  had  confronted  us  at  the  Yellow  Tavern  and 
that,  having  defeated  him  in  fair  fight,  onr  suprem- 
acy was  assured.  I  have  never  been  one  of  those 
who  regarded  him  as  the  Eupert  of  the  Confederate 
army.  He  was  a  hardy,  cheerful,  and  gallant  leader, 
full  of  enterprise  and  daring,  but  by  no  means  an 
invincible  or  even  a  model  cavalryman.  Like  Kil- 
patrick,  he  generally  overworked  his  men  and  horses 
in  useless  raids  and  seems  never  to  have  fully  real- 
ized the  advantage  of  operating  in  masses  in  close 
cooperation  with  the  infantry.  His  failure  to  cover 
Lee's  concentration  at  Gettysburg  and  his  absence 
from  that  field  were  mistakes  which  have  never  been 
satisfactorily  explained.  The  simple  fact  is  he  was 
as  great  a  favorite  with  Lee  as  Sheridan  was  with 
Grant,  and  seems  to  have  had  carte  blanche  to  do 
about  as  he  pleased.  Although  without  previous 
military  training,  Hampton  in  the  East  and  Forrest 
in  the  West  were  quite  his  equals  in  personal  prow- 
ess and  leadership,  while  Hampton  was  certainly 
his  superior  in  administration  and  generalship. 
While  both  were  finally  outweighted  and  overborne, 
Hampton  never  divided  his  forces  in  the  face  of 
his  opponent,  but,  as  will  be  pointed  out  more  in 
detail  further  on,  he  used  his  entire  corps  with  con- 
summate ability  a  few  weeks  later,  first  against 
Sheridan,  north  of  Eichmond,  and  second  against 
me,  south  of  Petersburg.  Having  a  central  position 
and  shorter  lines,  he  lacked  nothing  but  weight  to 
use  us  both  up  completely.  As  it  was,  he  forced 
Sheridan  to  retire  from  Trevellian  Station  by  a 
wide  detour,  and  gave  me  all  I  could  do  to  save  my 
command  and  rejoin  the  army  from  which  both  had 
been  detached  and  sent  on  divergent  and  dangerous 

409 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

missions  in  flagrant  violation  of  well-established 
military  principles. 

After  a  few  hours  at  the  Yellow  Tavern,  during 
which  the  corps  closed  up  and  men  and  horses  rested 
and  fed,  we  resumed  our  movement  toward  Eich- 
mond. 

In  pursuance  of  verbal  instructions,  our  march 
began  at  11  p.  m.,  with  my  division  in  the  lead  and 
the  other  divisions  following.  Our  purpose  was  not 
at  any  time  to  attack  Eichmond,  but  to  cross  the 
Chickahominy,  which  encircled  and  covered  it  as 
a  wet  ditch,  and  march  between  it  and  the  defenses 
of  Eichmond  by  the  way  of  Fair  Oaks  Station  to 
HaxalPs  Landing  on  the  James.  Our  route  lay 
along  the  Brook  turnpike  southward  to  within  five 
miles  of  the  city,  and  then  turned  to  the  left  by 
country  roads  along  the  south  bank  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy to  the  Virginia  Central  Eailroad  and  the 
Mechanicsville  turnpike,  which  we  reached  just  be- 
fore daylight,  without  opposition  or  unusual  delay. 
But  the  night  was  an  exciting  one.  We  were  within 
a  few  miles  of  the  Confederate  capital,  and  while 
we  knew  neither  the  strength  of  its  garrison  nor 
the  position  of  the  cavalry  which  we  had  defeated, 
we  kept  a  sharp  lookout  in  all  directions.  While 
there  was  no  fighting,  my  column  was  thrown  into 
some  confusion  by  exploding  torpedoes,  planted  in 
the  turnpike  along  which  we  were  marching.  Sup- 
posing that  the  actual  explosions  indicated  other 
mines,  we  naturally  took  the  roadside  where  the 
country  would  permit  it,  and  fortunately  met  noth- 
ing else  to  halt  or  delay  us  till  the  advance  reached 
the  Mechanicsville  turnpike.  Here  my  guide  with 
some  trepidation  declared  he  could  take  us  no  far- 

410 


GEANT    IN   THE   WILDERNESS 

ther,  without  explaining  the  reason,  which  became 
all  too  evident  a  few  minutes  later.  Having  no  time 
to  waste,  I  halted  long  enough  to  send  an  officer  to 
a  neighboring  house  for  another  guide.  Day  was 
just  dawning  when  he  returned  with  a  farmer  who 
said  he  knew  the  country  thoroughly.  While  some- 
what surprised  at  our  presence,  he  offered  no  ob- 
jection to  serving  us,  and  at  once  asked  if  I  knew 
where  we  were,  to  which  I  replied  I  had  a  vague 
idea  we  were  wedged  in  between  the  fortifications 
of  Eichmond  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Chickahominy 
on  the  other,  and  that  they  could  not  be  far  apart. 
Thereupon  the  new  guide  said:  "You're  right,  but 
you  are  also  up  against  a  battery  of  heavy  guns 
not  two  hundred  yards  away  completely  sweeping 
the  road  on  which  you  are  standing  as  well  as  the 
country  on  both  sides,  and  it  is  impossible  to  pass 
between  that  battery  and  the  river.' \  Eealizing  at 
once  that  we  might  be  in  a  tight  place,  I  ordered 
my  aid-de-camp,  Captain  Whitaker,  to  ride  up  the 
road  toward  the  rebel  lines.  Although  it  was  still 
quite  dark,  his  large,  gray  horse  could  be  plainly 
seen  for  fifty  or  sixty  yards,  but  had  just  disap- 
peared from  view  when  the  whole  side  of  the  heavens 
seemed  lit  up  by  a  flash,  followed  instantly  by  the 
roar  of  cannon  and  the  rush  of  hot  air  and  round 
shot  down  the  road  on  which  I  was  standing  with 
my  staff  and  orderlies.  Several  horses  were  dis- 
emboweled, several  had  their  legs  knocked  off  and 
floundered  into  the  ditches  by  the  roadside,  while 
the  staff  swept  back  a  few  yards  toward  the  river, 
taking  cover  under  the  brow  of  the  hill  overlooking 
the  bottom  beyond.  Fortunately,  neither  officer  nor 
man  was  seriously  injured,  though  several  were 

411 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

badly  bruised.  As  I  escaped  without  being  dis- 
mounted, I  hurriedly  ordered  the  two  brigade  com- 
manders to  dismount  the  whole  division  and  throw 
out  their  dismounted  men  toward  the  fortifications, 
while  screening  their  led  horses  in  the  valley  of  the 
Chickahominy  to  our  rear.  Although  the  situation 
was  exciting,  as  we  were  in  a  cut  de  sac,  with  for- 
tifications to  the  front  not  three  hundred  yards 
away,  and  a  river  not  half  that  distance  to  the  rear, 
my  orders  were  executed  without  confusion.  My 
two  batteries,  under  their  splendid  young  leaders, 
Fitzhugh  and  Pennington,  were  thrown  promptly 
into  position  and  were  soon  combing  the  crests  of 
the  fortifications,  now  plainly  in  sight,  while  the 
dismounted  troopers  were  deploying  to  the  front. 
Their  carbines  made  lively  music  and  soon  drove 
the  Confederates  back  into  their  works.  As  it  turned 
out,  they  were  largely  home  guards,  and,  had  we 
known  it,  we  could  have  easily  captured  the  city 
and  its  scanty  garrison,  as  well  as  the  Confederate 
Government,  but,  unfortunately,  this  was  not  Sheri- 
dan's plan.  His  first  duty  was  to  make  good  his 
position  and  get  into  the  open  country  again.  In 
the  midst  of  the  racket  at  its  highest,  Sheridan's 
aid,  Captain  Goddard,  galloped  up  to  me  in  great 
excitement,  exclaiming:  "General  Sheridan  orders 
you  to  hold  your  position  at  all  hazards  while  he 
arranges  to  withdraw  the  corps  to  the  north  side 
of  the  river." 

As  there  was  nothing  else  to  do  unless  we  con- 
cluded to  risk  all  in  assaulting  the  enemy's  works, 
after  twitting  the  captain  about  the  "ricochet  hat" 
he  wore,  I  said:  "Go  back  to  General  Sheridan 
and  tell  him  his  orders  shall  be  obeyed,  but,  like 

412 


GRANT    IN   THE    WILDERNESS 

John  Phoenix  in  his  celebrated  fight  with  the  editor 
of  the  San  Diego  Herald,  say  onr  hair  is  badly  en- 
tangled in  his  fingers  and  our  nose  firmly  inserted 
in  his  mouth,  and  we  shall,  therefore,  hold  on  here 
till  something  breaks!"  This  was  literally  true, 
but  our  condition  was  not  quite  so  desperate  as  it 
seemed.  As  daylight  made  the  situation  clearer 
we  had  but  little  difficulty  in  getting  rid  of  the 
enemy,  but  as  soon  as  we  could  look  about,  it  became 
certain  that  we  could  not  cross  the  Mechanicsville 
turnpike,  that  the  fortifications  actually  rested  on 
the  brow  of  the  hill  overlooking  the  valley,  and 
that  there  was  no  road  whatever  between  them  and 
the  river.  Having  made  good  our  position,  there 
was  nothing  further  to  do  but  to  hold  on  while  Sheri- 
dan cleared  the  ground  behind  us,  and  repaired  the 
bridge  in  rear  of  his  center,  and  as  soon  as  it  be- 
came passable  to  withdraw  by  the  flanks  of  divi- 
sions to  the  north  side  of  the  river. 

As  Custer  covered  the  road  to  the  rear,  he  was 
detailed  to  reconstruct  the  bridge,  but,  having  no 
bridge  train,  he  had  to  tear  down  the  neighboring 
houses  for  the  necessary  materials.  He  was  not  an 
engineer,  but  with  his  West  Point  training  he  made 
short  work  of  the  job,  and  before  the  morning  was 
half  spent,  although  the  enemy  made  a  feeble  show 
of  advancing,  Gregg,  Merritt,  and  Custer  had  crossed 
and  left  me  to  bring  off  the  rear.  This,  as  it  turned 
out,  was  a  simple  task,  though  Sheridan  evidently 
thought  it  a  complicated  one,  for  he  rode  up  and 
down  the  line,  waving  his  hat  and  sword  and  en- 
couraging the  men  by  words  both  rude  and  profane 
to  hold  on  firmly  till  their  comrades  were  all  safely 
out  of  the  way.    Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  enemy 

413 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

did  not  press  us  and  our  men  were  steady  veterans 
who  had  been  in  tight  places  many  times  before, 
the  movement  was  completed  without  loss  or  con- 
fusion, and  with  my  escort  I  was  the  last  to  cross. 

During  this  episode  Sheridan  was  as  much  ex- 
cited as  any  man  in  the  command.  He  evidently 
thought  the  corps  was  in  an  exceedingly  dangerous 
position,  and  that  if  attacked  in  force  he  might  lose 
a  large  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  his  command.  He 
certainly  had  no  thought  of  assuming  the  offensive 
or  attacking  the  fortifications,  but  was  bent  upon 
getting  out  of  a  bad  box  as  best  he  could.  That 
done,  the  next  step  was  to  march  to  a  junction  with 
Butler,  then  supposed  to  be  at  or  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Bermuda  Hundred.  We  needed  rations  and 
forage  badly  and  had  no  means  of  knowing  that 
the  Confederate  capital  was  without  an  adequate 
garrison.  In  his  reports,  as  well  as  in  his  less  for- 
mal explanations,  Sheridan  always  claimed  that  he 
did  not  go  into  Eichmond  merely  because  he  had 
no  orders  to  do  so,  and  this  was  literally  the  truth, 
but  from  the  Confederate  accounts  of  the  situation 
it  is  now  certain  that  the  capture  of  that  place  would 
have  been  easy  work  for  the  twelve  thousand 
troopers  Sheridan  had  with  him.  According  to  the 
facts,  it  was  an  opportunity  in  which  audacity  and 
a  bold  stroke  might  gain  a  notable  success.  With 
Eichmond  firmly  in  our  possession,  and  Butler's 
army  only  a  few  miles  to  the  southeast,  we  could 
easily  have  made  good  our  position,  and  this  must 
have"  produced  a  tremendous  impression  upon  Lee 
and  the  Confederacy. 

As  it  was,  our  advance  had  hardly  got  across 
the  Chickahominy  before  that  part  of  Stuart's  com- 

414 


GRANT   IN   THE   WILDERNESS 

mand  we  had  fought  the  day  before  at  Yellow  Tav- 
ern, having  cut  across  country,  undertook  to  bar 
our  further  progress,  but  it  was  an  easy  task  to 
brush  them  out  of  the  way  and  resume  our  march 
by  Mechanicsville  and  Pole  Green  Church  to  Gains ' 
House,  where  we  encamped  that  night. 

The  next  day  we  crossed  the  Chickahominy  at 
Bottom's  Bridge  and  marched  thence  to  Malvern 
Hill,  the  scene  of  McClellan's  greatest  defensive 
battle,  to  Haxall's  Landing  on  the  James,  where  we 
encamped  early  on  the  morning  of  the  14th.  The 
country  was  familiar  to  our  officers  and  men,  but 
it  was  entirely  stripped  of  forage  and  food,  and, 
therefore,  we  were  anxious  to  get  through  it  and 
open  communications  with  Butler's  transports  and 
depots  beyond.  On  arriving  at  the  river  we  got 
the  New  York  papers,  from  which  we  first  heard 
of  Sedgwick's  death  and  of  Grant's  encouraging 
message:  "I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if 
it  takes  all  summer." 

Having  reached  a  place  of  safety  and  plenty, 
both  officers  and  men  felt  quite  exultant  over  their 
long  and  successful  march,  and  were  encouraged 
by  the  hope  that  with  our  assistance  Butler  would 
be  able  to  isolate  Eichmond,  destroy  its  communi- 
cations, compel  Lee  to  let  loose  in  front  of  Grant, 
and  hurry  back  to  the  defense  of  Richmond.  But 
this  hope,  like  many  others  during  that  summer,  was 
destined  to  disappointment.  As  far  as  we  could 
make  out,  Butler  was  doing  but  little,  and,  while 
it  was  pretty  certain  that  Lee  was  slowly  falling 
back  before  Grant,  Sheridan,  as  soon  as  he  had  se- 
cured supplies,  determined  to  retrace  his  steps  and 
rejoin  Grant,  wherever  he  might  be  found.    Mean- 

415 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

while,  knowing  what  I  did  from  service  along  the 
southern  coast,  I  wrote  to  Dana,  urging  that  the 
forces  employed  in  useless  coastwise  expeditions, 
amounting  to  some  eighteen  or  twenty  thousand 
men,  should  be  at  once  brought  to  Butler 's  support, 
although  it  was  evident  even  at  that  early  date  that 
Butler  was  at  outs  with  Gillmore  and  perhaps  with 
other  subordinate  commanders,  and  that,  therefore, 
it  would  be  better  to  put  that  part  of  the  army 
under  someone  in  whom  it  would  have  greater  con- 
fidence. 

While  the  men  were  resting  and  drawing  sup- 
plies I  accompanied  Sheridan  to  Bermuda  Hundred, 
where  I  met  Butler  as  well  as  Baldy  Smith,  his 
next  in  command,  and  was  not  long  in  discovering 
that  they  were  at  outs  with  each  other.  The  entries 
in  my  diary  at  the  time  show  that  the  divided  com- 
mand and  responsibilities  of  that  Department  were 
far  from  working  satisfactorily.  Subsequent  de- 
velopments made  it  certain  that  this  view  was  cor- 
rect, and  as  they  were  confirmed  by  Morgan  and 
Bowen,  both  regular  officers  of  high  character  and 
great  ability,  I  was  justified  in  the  conclusion  that  I 
ought  to  make  both  Bawlins  and  Grant  acquainted 
with  the  real  situation  on  the  James  as  soon  as  I 
could  safely  do  it. 

On  May  16  we  learned  through  Richmond 
papers  that  Stuart  had  died  of  the  wounds  received 
at  Yellow  Tavern  and  that  the  Confederate  authori- 
ties regarded  his  loss  as  irreparable. 

For  some  reason,  not  explained  and  now  diffi- 
cult to  understand,  Sheridan  decided  to  begin  his 
return  march  by  night  of  the  17th.  His  route  lay 
nearly  due  north  to  Jones'  Bridge  and  Mount  Oli- 

416 


GRANT   IN    THE    WILDERNESS 

vette  Church,  but  as  the  roads  were  bad  and  our 
teams  worse,  our  progress  was  but  slow.  On  the 
18th  we  made  only  five  miles,  and  on  the  19th  three. 
Starting  at  dawn  of  the  20th,  my  division  camped 
at  an  early  hour  on  the  Mattadequin  Creek  near 
the  house  of  President  Tyler's  widow,  where  we 
enjoyed  strawberries  and  cream,  ice  water,  and  hos- 
pitality in  exchange  for  protection.  In  this  fine  old 
house  and  others  like  it  along  the  line  of  march  I 
found  a  lot  of  old-time  but  excellent  books,  among 
others  Zimmerman's  " Solitude, ' '  "The  Life  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,"  and  the  "Life  of  Suvarrow," 
all  published  before  1810.  I  was  familiar,  of  course, 
with  the  campaigns  of  the  Russian  General,  but  had 
never  before  seen  an  analysis  of  his  character,  the 
author's  summary  of  which  praised  him  for  per- 
sonal activity  and  bravery,  for  never  hesitating  a 
moment  to  attack  his  enemy,  whether  en  route  or 
in  position,  and  for  never  waiting  to  receive  an  on- 
slaught. His  plans  were  praised  as  conforming  to 
correct  principles,  which  were  always  carried  out 
with  such  frenzy  of  desperation  as  to  make  them 
invariably  successful.  The  lesson  was  a  good  one 
for  our  army  till  the  end  of  the  war. 

In  our  deliberate  march  northward  I  had  con- 
siderable time  for  reflection,  as  well  as  for  reading. 
The  Eichmond  papers  fell  into  our  hands  almost 
daily  and  told  us  how  Grant  was  pressing  steadily 
but  slowly  by  the  way  of  Guiney  and  Milford  sta- 
tions along  the  Fredericksburg  Railroad  toward 
Richmond. 

After  conferring  fully  with  Sheridan  in  regard 
to  Butler's  campaign  on  the  James  and  its  rela- 
tions to  Grant's  more  important  movements  north 

417 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

of  Richmond,  we  concurred  in  the  conclusion  that 
we  should  put  our  views  in  writing  and  send  them 
by  courier,  mine  to  Rawlins  and  Sheridan's  to  Col- 
onel Comstock,  and  this  was  done.  Both  urged  that 
Butler  should  be  relieved  and  his  army  turned  over 
to  Baldy  Smith,  with  orders  to  push  the  enemy  vig- 
orously, first  to  capture  Petersburg,  and  second  to 
destroy  the  railroads  south  of  Petersburg  and  Rich- 
mond for  the  purpose  of  cutting  of!  the  supplies 
passing  through  those  places  to  Lee's  army  north 
of  them. 

While  still  resting  at  Mrs.  Tyler's  house  and 
reading  criticisms  from  her  library  of  Napoleon, 
Wellington,  and  Washington,  we  heard  heavy  can- 
nonading toward  Fredericksburg,  and  this  contin- 
ued at  intervals  the  whole  of  the  next  day,  but  what 
it  meant  we  did  not  find  out  till  after  we  rejoined 
the  army.1 

Marching  at  3:30,  May  22,  we  arrived  at  the 
White  House,  near  the  head  of  York  River,  at  11 
a.  mv  and  there  replenished  our  supplies  from  trans- 
ports at  that  place.  Sheridan  had  sent  to  Fortress 
Monroe  for  a  pontoon  train,  but  the  next  day  we 
crossed  the  Pamunkey  on  the  railroad  bridge,  two 
hundred  and  seventy  yards  long,  which  we  planked 
over  with  boards  gathered  from  the  neighboring 
country.  Our  route  lay  through  King  William  Court 
House  and  Dunkirk  to  Aylett's  Station,  and  during 
the  whole  day  we  heard  heavy  and  continuous  sound 
of  artillery  from  the  direction  of  Hanover  Junction, 
more  than  twenty  miles  to  the  westward.  The  roar 
was  as  loud  and  continuous  as  any  I  ever  heard  ex- 

irThe  enemy  attacked  the  Sixth  Corps  at  Spottsylvania,  O.  E. 
Serial  No.  67,  p.  193. 

418 


GRANT    IN    THE    WILDERNESS 

cept  on  the  battlefield.  Custer  had  been  detached 
in  that  direction  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the 
bridges  just  north  of  that  place,  and  the  sounds 
which  reached  us  were  from  his  guns,  but,  having 
encountered  a  strong  force  moving  northward,  his 
efforts  were  unsuccessful.  Had  the  whole  corps  gone 
with  him  the  result  must  have  been  different,  but, 
operating  as  we  did  far  to  the  eastward,  our  whole 
movement,  so  far  as  it  concerned  Lee's  communica- 
tions was  disappointing.  While  we  broke  his  rail- 
roads going  south,  first  at  Beaver  Dam  and  later 
at  Ashland,  capturing  three  trainloads  of  provisions 
with  one  million  five  hundred  thousand  rations,  a 
supply  of  forage  for  our  half-starved  horses,  and  a 
large  quantity  of  medical  stores,  besides  recapturing 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  Union  prisoners,  we 
did  not  pay  sufficient  attention  to  the  destruction 
of  the  enemy's  railroads,  either  going  or  returning. 
But  the  enemy's  mistakes  were  much  greater  than 
ours.  While  our  force  was  generally  united  in  a 
compact  mass,  his  was  scattered,  part  in  our  rear 
and  part  in  our  front,  and  although  this  was  more 
or  less  disconcerting,  as  it  caused  Sheridan  to  mini- 
mize the  work  of  destruction,  it  did  not  prevent  him 
from  moving  against  and  engaging  the  enemy  when- 
ever he  came  within  reach.  But,  having  no  precise 
information  as  to  Grant's  progress,  or  of  Lee's  ex- 
act position  from  day  to  day,  we  were  perhaps  over- 
cautious in  our  own  movements,  which  we  carried 
on  as  far  to  the  east  as  the  necessity  of  crossing 
the  rivers  and  estuaries  flowing  into  the  Chesapeake 
would  allow. 

Withal  we  rejoined  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  on 
May  24  at  Old  Chesterfield  Court  House,  having 

419 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

been  sixteen  days  absent,  four  of  which  we  passed 
on  the  James  and  two  on  the  York,  leaving  ten  spent 
in  marching  and  fighting.  Our  entire  loss  was  two 
hundred  and  ninety-five  men  and  officers.  The  total 
distance  traveled  was  approximately  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles,  or,  not  counting  the 
days  in  camp,  an  average  of  about  fourteen  miles 
per  day. 

It  should  be  observed  that  from  the  time  Sheri- 
dan cut  loose  from  the  army  at  Spottsylvania  till 
he  rejoined  it  he  was  practically  operating  in  the 
open  country  against  Lee's  communications  and  the 
Confederate  capital  with  his  three  divisions  of  cav- 
alry, united  and  well  in  hand,  while  Stuart  had  but 
two  divisions  and  not  more  than  two-thirds  as  many 
men  operating  separately  for  their  defense.  The 
advantages  were  largely  in  our  favor  and  the  op- 
portunity a  great  one  for  striking  a  vital  blow.  Now 
that  it  is  all  over  and  the  records  of  both  sides  avail- 
able, it  is  apparent  that  we  might  not  only  have 
defeated  the  Confederates  again,  as  we  did  at  Yel- 
low Tavern,  but  could  easily  have  destroyed  the  rail- 
roads and  captured  Eichmond,  had  we  but  known 
their  defenseless  condition. 

The  fact  is  that  neither  Sheridan,  his  generals, 
nor  his  command  had  yet  entirely  found  themselves. 
The  generals  were  more  or  less  unacquainted  with 
each  other  and  with  Sheridan,  and  this  sufficiently 
accounts  for  the  absence  of  that  vigor  and  coherence 
which  afterward  characterized  their  operations. 
Sheridan  was  operating  not  only  in  a  new  field,  but 
with  a  new  command.  While  he  had  led  a  cavalry 
regiment  for  a  few  weeks  in  west  Tennessee  and 
had  commanded  a  division  of  infantry  for  two  years, 

420 


GRANT    IN    THE    WILDERNESS 

he  was  essentially  an  infantry  officer  till  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  be- 
longed to  that  arm  of  the  service  since  leaving  West 
Point,  and,  although  he  had  shown  extraordinary 
steadiness  and  courage  as  a  division  commander,  he 
had  not  yet  acquired  the  self-confidence  and  inde- 
pendence which  finally  characterized  him  as  one  of 
the  boldest  and  most  successful  cavalry  leaders  of 
his  time.  His  career  shows  plainly  that  whatever 
may  be  a  soldier  's  natural  qualities  or  however  high 
his  education,  it  takes  experience  to  give  him  con- 
fidence in  an  independent  command  and  in  fighting 
battles.  Books  teach  most  lessons  of  war  fairly 
well.  They  lay  down  the  established  principles  of 
strategy,  logistics,  and  administration,  and  the  in- 
dustrious student  may  get  almost  everything  out  of 
them  to  make  the  perfect  general  except  experience. 
That  comes  only  with  hard  knocks  and  constant  serv- 
ice, and  experience  thus  acquired  is  the  greatest  of 
all  requisites  to  a  successful  commander. 

Immediately  after  rejoining  the  army  we  found 
it  facing  Lee  on  the  South  Anna  Eiver,  where  the 
situation  had  again  become  that  of  checkmate.  Lee  's 
position,  covered  as  it  was  by  the  river,  seemed  to 
be  unassailable  by  direct  attack  and  Grant  had  evi- 
dently already  made  up  his  mind  to  turn  it  again 
by  a  side  march  to  a  lower  crossing  of  the  Pamun- 
key  near  Hanovertown.  This  brought  the  cavalry 
again  to  a  condition  of  dispersion.  My  division,  al- 
though just  as  tired  and  needing  rest  as  badly  as 
the  others,  was  transferred  at  once  to  the  right  at 
Jericho  Mills,  where  it  crossed  to  the  south  side  of 
the  North  Anna  beyond  the  right  of  the  Sixth  Corps, 
whence  it  detached  a  dismounted  force  to  cross  Little 

421 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Eiver  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  demonstration 
against  Lee's  left  and  rear.1  While  this  was  going 
on  the  other  two  divisions  remained  at  rest  two 
days  in  camp  at  Polecat  Station  in  rear  of  the  army. 
Had  they  been  sent  with  me  and  all  three  divisions 
been  hurled  against  the  left  and  rear  of  the  enemy, 
he  must  have  been  greatly  shaken,  if  not  thrown 
into  inextricable  confusion.  As  it  was,  my  move- 
ment, taking  Lee's  left  flank  completely  in  reverse 
and  threatening  his  communications  with  Hanover- 
town,  was  a  complete  success  and,  accompanied  by 
a  spirited  carbine  fire,  which  might  well  have  been 
mistaken  for  the  crashing  roar  of  an  infantry  divi- 
sion, as  well  as  by  a  noisy  pretense  of  bridge  build- 
ing, all  under  the  cover  of  darkness  and  a  heavy 
cannonade  from  our  twelve  guns,  was  well  calcu- 
lated to  shake  Lee  out  of  his  position.  As  the  pos- 
sible advance  of  Grant's  whole  army,  it  certainly 
drew  Lee's  attention  sharply  to  that  quarter  of  the 
field,  and,  although  I  was  forced  by  lack  of  weight 
and  by  ignorance  of  lay  of  the  land  to  suspend  my 
movement  in  the  full  tide  of  success,  it  was  not  till 
toward  midnight  that  I  ceased  firing  or  withdrew 
my  skirmishers,  and  recrossed  both  rivers  to 
bivouac  at  Canfield's  house.  It  was  a  hard  day's 
work,  followed  by  a  night  of  great  exposure  and 
excitement,  but  I  afterward  learned,  much  to  my 
gratification,  that  our  operations  were  not  only 
alarming  and  disconcerting  to  the  enemy,  but  gave 
Grant  a  full  day's  start  in  his  new  turning  move- 
ment.2 

During  the  next  three  days  I  held  the  right  of 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  21,  794,  795,  808,  881. 

2  lb.,  pp.  21,  194,  872-5. 

422 


GRANT   IN    THE    WILDERNESS 

our  army,  conforming  to  and  covering  its  move- 
ments and  keeping  watch  and  ward  over  its  rear 
along  the  rivers  which  separated  the  hostile  forces. 
In  doing  this  we  kept  our  horses  constantly  out  of 
sight  and  showed  only  our  dismounted  men>  and 
field  guns  to  the  enemy,  and  this  we  did  so  effect- 
ually and  with  such  a  show  of  force  as  to  conceal 
our  real  movements  till  the  army  made  its  appear- 
ance south  of  the  Pamunkey  some  thirty  miles 
away. 

Although  it  was  a  period  of  ceaseless  labor  and 
constant  vigilance,  it  afforded  me  an  opportunity 
to  visit  Grant's  headquarters  at  Chesterfield  Court 
House  and  to  confer  with  him  and  his  staff.  All 
gave  me  a  hearty  welcome  and  received  my  reports 
of  marching,  fighting,  and  observation  with  a  full 
appreciation  of  their  importance.  Both  Grant  and 
Eawlins  were  deeply  interested  in  what  I  told  them 
of  Butler's  opportunities  and  of  the  unfortunate 
dissensions  which  marred  the  efficiency  of  his  army. 
Eawlins  had  received  my  letter  by  courier  and  I 
have  never  doubted  that  the  personal  reports  made 
independently  of  each  other  by  Sheridan  and  my- 
self were  influential  in  moving  Grant  a  few  days 
later  to  withdraw  Smith's  corps  from  Butler's  col- 
umn to  reenforce  his  own  army,  between  the  Toto- 
potomoy  and  the  Chickahominy.  The  front  of  man- 
euvers gradually  grew  narrower  as  we  advanced 
toward  Eichmond  and  the  battles  became  bloodier 
and  more  costly.  These  facts  fully  justified  Eaw- 
lins' constant  anxiety  for  reinforcements,  whether 
by  draft  or  by  enlistments,  while  they  imposed  upon 
Grant  the  imperative  duty  of  making  his  advance 
not  only  safe  but  invincible  by  calling  every  man 

423 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

within  reach  to  strengthen  the  army  under  his  im- 
mediate control. 

During  this  period  I  not  only  saw  Grant  and  his 
staff  frequently,  but  received  several  visits  from 
Dana,  Eawlins,  and  Babcock,  all  of  whom  showed 
unabated  interest  in  my  welfare  and  success.  It 
was  in  the  first  of  these  visits  that  they  explained 
the  work  of  detraction  and  misrepresentation  which 
had  been  carried  on  more  or  less  openly  against  my 
division  since  I  had  been  in  command  of  it.  They 
named  a  staff  officer  who  had  been  talking  and  I 
reported  him  to  Sheridan,  who  at  once  gave  him 
an  admonition  which  silenced  him  for  good  and  all. 
The  prejudices,  selfish  interests,  and  idle  talk  of 
an  army  made  up  of  men  from  all  callings  and  all 
parts  of  the  country,  although  generally  founded 
on  gossip,  are  nearly  always  productive  of  evil. 
They  mar  or  make  fortunes  without  reference  to 
conduct  or  real  merit.  The  braggart  and  boaster, 
especially  if  he  is  skillful  in  getting  in  with  the 
newspapers,  frequently  gains  popular  favor  for 
much  more  than  he  is  really  worth,  while  the  faith- 
ful and  modest  officer  who  attends  strictly  to  duty 
is  far  too  often  condemned  unheard.  Our  army 
showed  many  instances  of  this  sort,  and  yet  candor 
compels  me  to  add  that  the  modest  man  is  not  al- 
ways the  best  soldier,  nor  the  braggart  always  the 
worst.  Some  of  the  poorest  officers  I  ever  knew 
were  as  modest  as  women,  while  some  of  the  best, 
while  shamelessly  sounding  their  own  praises,  were 
brave,  dashing,  and  enterprising  to  an  unusual  de- 
gree. Such  men  frequently  act  as  though  conscious 
of  having  committed  themselves  to  deeds  of  daring 
and  feel  compelled  to  make  good  at  every  hazard. 

424 


GRANT    IN   THE    WILDERNESS 

They  rarely  reach  the  highest  distinction,  while 
those  of  the  more  thoughtful  and  more  steadfast 
kind  are  content  to  do  their  duty  from  time  to  time 
according  to  their  best  judgment  and  leave  the  rest 
to  their  record  and  to  those  in  authority  over  them. 
In  the  long  run  the  latter  class  prevail.  The  man 
who  knows  when  to  use  his  brains  instead  of  his 
sword,  when  to  put  his  command  in  and  follow  its 
movements  with  a  watchful  eye,  and  when  to  place 
himself  at  the  post  of  danger,  resolved  to  win  or 
lose  it  all  by  his  personal  leadership,  is  a  far  more 
useful  officer  than  the  reckless  and  thoughtless  man 
who  undertakes  to  do  all  the  fighting  himself.  This 
is  just  as  true  in  our  great  war  as  in  the  other  great 
wars  of  history.  While  it  is  sometimes  hard  for  a 
subordinate  to  follow  a  campaign  or  a  battle  closely 
enough  to  know  just  what  the  next  movement  should 
be,  it  is  still  harder  to  judge  correctly  when  to  throw 
prudence,  which  is  often  a  i  l  rascally  virtue, ' '  to  the 
wind  and  stake  all  on  personal  courage  and  leader- 
ship. But  the  really  good  officer,  when  the  time 
comes,  takes  the  risk,  far  too  frequently  with  a  fatal 
result,  though  in  the  long  run  he  and  his  kind  win 
out  and  achieve  real  glory. 


425 


XVII 

GRANT'S  ADVANCE  TO  THE  JAMES 

Operations  on  Pamunkey  and  North  Anna — Fights  at  Han- 
over Court  House — Ashland  and  South  Anna — Toto- 
potomoy — Haw's  shop — Behind  Lee's  left — Captain 
Ulffers — Prepared  rations — Sheridan  detached — De- 
feated by  Hampton — Cold  Harbor — Upton 's  comments. 

During  Grant's  movement  to  the  left  along  the 
north  bank  of  the  Pamunkey  on  the  last  days  of 
May,  1864,  I  followed  close  behind  his  rear  guard, 
picking  up  stragglers  from  the  Ninth  Corps  and  an 
occasional  deserter  from  Lee's  forces.  From  one  of 
the  latter  I  learned  that  Lee  had  begun  his  retro- 
grade movement  to  Ashland  Station  almost  imme- 
diately after  my  night  attack  against  his  left  flank, 
and  this  information  I  deemed  important  enough  to 
send  to  General  Grant,  as  it  indicated  that  Lee's 
new  position  would  be  twelve  or  fourteen  miles 
south  of  Chesterfield,  a  few  miles  beyond  the  South 
Anna,  behind  which  he  would  be  free  to  move  in 
any  direction.  It  also  made  it  certain  that  we  were 
in  but  little  danger  of  an  offensive  return.  The 
march  was  therefore  in  the  nature  of  rest  and  recrea- 
tion. While  it  was  under  way  I  overtook  my  class- 
mate, Captain  Andrews,  of  the  Eighth  Infantry,  who 
since  the  death  of  Sedgwick,  on  whose  staff  he  had 

426 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

been  serving  as  an  aid-de-eamp,  was  in  command 
of  his  company  on  foot.  His  entire  baggage  was 
tied  up  in  a  bandanna  handkerchief  and  carried  on 
his  sword  over  his  shoulder.  He  was  weary,  foot- 
sore, and  despondent,  and  as  soon  as  he  saw  me 
asked  seriously  if  I  knew  where  he  could  get  the 
mouth-piece  of  a  key  bugle  or  any  other  part  of  a 
brass  musical  instrument.  This  puzzling  question 
at  once  aroused  my  curiosity  as  well  as  my  interest. 
He  was  a  veteran  of  imperturbable  temper  and  ap- 
proved courage  who  had  taken  an  honorable  part 
in  all  the  eastern  campaigns  and  in  many  of  the  most 
important  battles.  I  knew,  therefore,  that  there  was 
something  behind  his  singular  inquiry,  but  as  I  could 
not  imagine  what  it  was,  I  answered  at  once :  ' '  No ! 
Why  do  you  ask?"  And  this  brought  the  reply, 
without  the  glimmer  of  a  smile: 

"Oh,  I  merely  want  to  be  considered  as  belong- 
ing to  the  band,  which,  you  know,  remains  behind 
the  fighting  line  and  carries  off  the  wounded.  This 
is  the  only  berth  in  this  army  where  a  man's  life 
is  worth  a  cent.  Nearly  everybody  I  know  has  been 
killed  or  wounded,  and  if  this  campaign,  with  its 
senseless  assaults  of  entrenched  positions  and  its 
ceaseless  tributes  of  blood  and  death,  is  to  continue 
much  longer,  my  turn  is  sure  to  come  soon,  and  I 
want  to  avoid  that  if  I  can  honorably  do  so.  Like 
our  classmate,  Martin,  commanding  his  regiment 
at  the  vortex  of  the  battle  at  Peach  Orchard,  where 
he  could  hear  the  bullets  breaking  the  bones  of  his 
men  like  icicles  falling  from  the  eaves  on  a  sunny 
morning,  'I  feel  exactly  as  though  every  minute 
might  be  my  next!'  " 

The  captain's  grim  but  impressive  humor  was 
427 


UNDEE    THE    OLD    FLAG 

followed  by  the  first  comment  I  had  heard  upon  the 
rude  and  costly  methods  and  the  incompetency  of 
corps  and  division  commanders  in  that  army,  and 
from  the  specifications  which  followed  I  became  con- 
vinced that  the  courage  and  confidence  of  both  offi- 
cers and  men  were  not  only  slipping  away,  but  that 
unless  better  methods  and  greater  successes  could 
be  assured,  we  might  meet  with  an  overwhelming 
disaster  any  day.  The  condition  of  affairs  was  a 
grave  one  and,  unfortunately,  there  was  no  sign 
from  any  quarter  that  a  change  for  the  better  might 
be  expected.  Lee  and  his  decimated  ranks  still 
grimly  barred  our  road  to  Eichmond  and,  as  it 
turned  out,  exacted  greater  and  greater  tributes  of 
blood  and  treasure  before  yielding  to  the  inevitable. 

A  few  days  later  I  asked  for  and  obtained  An- 
drews '  detail  to  my  staff  as  aid-de-camp.  Beaumont 
and  Noyes,  from  the  same  staff,  had  already  joined 
and,  I  may  add,  remained  with  me  to  the  end  of  the 
war.  They  were  all  West  Pointers,  young,  gallant, 
and  accomplished,  and,  while  they  had  many  close 
calls  from  captivity  and  death,  they  escaped  serious 
injury  and  disablement,  led  long  and  useful  lives, 
and  finally  retired  as  colonels  of  the  regular  army. 
They  were  well  fitted  for  high  command,  but  those 
were  strenuous  days,  in  which  the  highest  merit 
did  not  always  receive  adequate  recognition  or  re- 
ward. 

The  Pamunkey,  formed  by  the  North  and  South 
Anna  Eivers,  is  an  exceedingly  crooked  stieam,  with 
many  bends,  swamps  and  small  tributaries.  My 
route  lay  through  Mangohick  Church  and  Pounce's 
Swamp  toward  New  Castle  Ferry  and  Hanover- 
town,  and  I  was  especially  required  to  remain  be- 

428 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

hind,  covering  the  trains  and  driving  in  the  strag- 
glers. Later  I  was  directed  to  divide  my  command, 
sending  one  brigade  south  of  the  river  for  the  pur- 
pose of  occupying  the  line  of  Crump  's  Creek  and  to 
follow  with  the  other  as  soon  as  everything  in  front 
had  crossed  the  Pamunkey.  This  service  was  all 
safely  accomplished  by  the  last  day  of  the  month, 
when  with  my  reunited  division  I  was  ordered  to 
turn  northwest  up  the  river  toward  Hanover  Court 
House.  This  speedily  brought  me  in  contact  with 
the  enemy's  cavalry  near  Doctor  Price's  house, 
where  a  sharp  and  successful  skirmish  lasting  till 
night  took  place. 

Late  on  May  1  I  was  ordered  to  push  out  and 
destroy  the  railroad  bridges  northwest  of  Hanover 
Court  House,  to  begin  my  march  in  that  direction 
after  dark,  and  to  continue  the  work  of  destruction 
till  it  was  all  finished  or  till  I  was  reenforced  or 
withdrawn.  This  was  a  most  important  task.  Four 
railroad  bridges,  two  across  the  South  Anna  and 
two  across  Little  Eiver,  were  involved,  and  the  pri- 
mary object  was  to  break  the  railroads  north  of 
Eichmond  connecting  that  place  with  the  western 
part  of  the  state  through  Gordonsville  and  Lynch- 
burg. As  this  was  an  operation  of  the  first  impor- 
tance which  necessarily  carried  me  in  a  circle 
around  and  toward  Eichmond,  with  the  Pamunkey 
at  my  back,  while  our  army  was  moving  away  from 
me  to  the  southeast,  it  exposed  me  to  the  attack  of 
the  entire  rebel  cavalry,  which,  based  on  Eichmond, 
had  the  short  line  against  me  from  start  to  finish. 
The  proper  tactical  use  of  the  cavalry  under  the 
circumstances  was  to  send  the  entire  corps  to  assist 
in  the  work  committed  to  me.    This  would  have  en- 

429 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

abled  it  to  destroy  the  bridges  and  railroad  effectu- 
ally in  a  few  hours  and  would  have  given  us,  besides, 
an  opportunity  to  crush  or  drive  Hampton  into  the 
fortifications  of  Kichmond  or  to  compel  him  to  take 
refuge  behind  Lee's  army.  As  it  was,  the  entire 
burden  of  the  operations  fell  upon  my  division  of 
four  thousand  sabers.  My  movement  began  at  dark 
and  soon  brought  me  in  contact  with  Pierce  M.  B. 
Young's  Confederate  brigade.  He  had  been  a  West 
Point  companion  of  mine,  a  private  in  my  cadet 
company,  and  was  an  exceedingly  handsome,  gal- 
lant, and  enterprising  officer  who  accepted  the  gage 
of  battle  with  all  confidence  when  I  offered  it 
to  him.  Both  Mcintosh  and  Chapman,  my  brigade 
commanders,  were  men  of  dashing  courage  and  at 
the  word  pushed  their  dismounted  men  across  the 
creek,  wounding  Young  himself  through  the  body, 
and  driving  his  men  with  a  rush  from  the  field  to- 
ward the  west.1 

Our  rest  that  night  was  but  short,  and  at  four 
o'clock  the  next  morning  we  moved  forward  about 
four  miles  against  the  railroad.  Mcintosh  with  the 
stronger  brigade  struck  it  at  Ashland  Station,  near 
the  birthplace  of  Henry  Clay,  while  Chapman  moved 
divergently  against  the  bridges  several  miles  fur- 
ther to  the  northwest.  At  an  early  hour  both 
were  actively  engaged,  Chapman,  under  my  special 
direction,  with  fire  and  torch  and  Mcintosh 
with  carbine  and  sword.  It  was  a  day  of  intense 
activity  and  excitement.  All  four  bridges  were  suc- 
cessfully burned  under  the  cover  of  a  fierce  fight 
front  and  rear  between  Mcintosh  and  Hampton,  five 
miles  to  the  southwest.    Nothing  was  permitted  to 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  21,  84,  880,  882. 
430 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

interfere  with  the  burning  of  the  bridges  and  the 
breaking  of  the  railroads.  Chapman,  the  first  to 
finish  his  task,  was  drawn  back  to  form  a  junction 
with  Mcintosh,  who  was  fiercely  pressed  on  all  sides. 
Much  sharp  fighting  ensued  and  some  confusion  re- 
sulted, but  our  work  was  accomplished,  the  division 
reunited,  and  the  road  opened  for  our  return  to  the 
army.  After  nineteen  hours '  marching  and  fighting 
we  bivouacked  at  eleven  o'clock  that  night  in  our 
old  position  at  Hanover  Court  House,  where  we  held 
on  the  whole  of  the  next  day,  waiting  for  orders, 
during  which  we  picked  up  a  brigade  of  reinforce- 
ments coming  from  Port  Eoyal  under  Colonel  Ces- 
nola.  It  was  composed  of  motley  detachments  on 
the  way  to  the  army,  and  added  but  little  to  our 
strength  and  nothing  to  our  mobility. 

During  the  whole  of  the  perilous  operations 
about  Hanover  Court  House  and  Ashland  I  was 
without  orders  from  Sheridan  and  did  not  even  know 
where  or  in  what  direction  he  was  operating.  My 
instructions  came  directly  from  Meade's  headquar- 
ters and  necessarily  left  me  in  doubt  as  to.  every- 
thing except  what  concerned  my  command.  All  the 
pickets  between  us  and  the  army  had  been  with- 
drawn and,  finding  myself  entirely  isolated,  late  on 
June  2  I  determined  to  march  toward  Cold  Har- 
bor, but  just  before  starting  I  received  orders  to 
follow  up  and  conform  to  the  movements  of  the 
army.  Accordingly,  at  7  p.  m.  I  took  the  road,  de- 
termined to  go  as  far  that  night  as  Totopotomoy 
Creek,  between  twelve  and  fifteen  miles  to  the  south- 
east. It  was  raining  hard  and  was  dark  and  dis- 
agreeable, but  for  that  reason  exceedingly  favor- 
able to  our  operations.    At  1 :30  a.  m.  my  advance 

431 


UNDER     THE     OLD    FLAG 

formed  connection  with  Burnside's  right,  but  Ces- 
nola  and  his  slow-marching  infantry  were  not  in 
position  till  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning. 

For  the  first  time  my  division  was  safely  in 
reserve  behind  the  right  of  Burnside's  corps,  but, 
notwithstanding  our  three  days'  constant  fighting, 
marching,  and  vigil,  no  rest  was  permitted  to  us. 
Our  losses  since  crossing  the  Pamunkey  in  killed 
and  wounded  had  been  about  two  hundred  men,  all 
of  whom,  except  the  dead,  had  been  brought  off  and 
properly  cared  for,  so  that  our  ambulances  were 
full  of  sick  and  wounded,  while  our  cartridge  boxes 
were  almost  empty.  Besides,  my  men  were  so  tired 
that  they  could  hardly  sit  their  jaded  and  half -fam- 
ished horses. 

Under  these  trying  circumstances  I  received  or- 
ders at  ten  o'clock  that  morning  to  sally  out  from 
behind  Burnside,  pass  around  Lee's  left  flank,  and 
attack  him  in  rear.  Another  day  of  fighting  and 
blood  was  before  us,  and,  while  the  exposure  and 
peril  were  great,  there  was  nothing  left  for  us  but 
to  undertake  it.  Boots  and  saddles  were  sounded 
and  our  weary  troopers  remounted  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. Not  a  man  murmured,  but  with  scanty  ra- 
tions and  forage  it  was  slow  and  discouraging  work 
to  get  ready  for  the  road  again.  Withal,  the  entire 
division  was  soon  in  column,  moving  briskly  against 
the  enemy,  which  we  expected  to  find  at  or  near 
Haw's  Shop  and  Salem  Church,  and  we  were  not 
disappointed  in  our  expectations.  Sheridan  found 
them  there  several  days  before  and,  as  the  country 
was  well  supplied  with  rifle  pits  for  the  defense  of 
the  roads  leading  toward  Richmond,  the  prospect 
was  recognized  by  every  officer  as  an  exceedingly 

432 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

good    one    for    a    rough    time,    and  a  rough  time 
ensued. 

Chapman's  brigade,  with  the  gallant  First  Ver- 
mont leading,  soon  found  themselves  in  contact  with 
the  enemy,  but  this  time  it  was  Gordon's  old  bri- 
gade of  infantry,  which  meant  a  more  determined 
resistance  than  even  their  best  cavalry  could  give 
us.  Dismounting  the  best  regiments  of  both  bri- 
gades and  cheering  them  to  the  charge,  the  fight 
was  on  at  once  in  earnest.  Our  horses  were  left 
behind  and  our  gallant  troopers  of  the  First  Ver- 
mont, the  Fifth  and  Eighth  New  York  in  open  or- 
der, with  their  rapid-fire  carbines  pouring  out  vol- 
ley after  volley,  rushed  with  all  the  steadiness  of 
the  best  infantry  to  the  attack.  The  enemy  made  a 
brave  but  ineffectual  stand  in  three  successive  lines 
of  breastworks,  but  our  men  swept  over  them,  one 
after  the  other,  without  hesitation,  capturing 
prisoners  and  clearing  up  the  country  as  they  went 
along,  but  at  a  fearful  cost  of  officers  and  men.  The 
knightly  Colonel  Preston  and  the  hard-fighting  Cap- 
tain Cushman  of  the  Vermont  regiment  were  killed 
at  the  head  of  their  men,  while  the  intrepid  Colonel 
Benjamin  of  the  Eighth  New  York  and  several  jun- 
ior officers  and  many  men  were  wounded.1  No  bet- 
ter fighting  was  ever  done  by  dismounted  troopers, 
but  the  day's  work  was  not  yet  over.2  In  gaining 
the  shop  and  church  and  driving  the  enemy  back 
on  Mount  Carmel  Church,  we  had  merely  made 
good  our  possession  of  a  congeries  of  cross-roads, 
uncovered  the  enemy's  left,  and  opened  the  way  to 
the  Totopotomoy,   two  miles  beyond  Via's   house 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  874,  875,  882. 
'  lb.,  pp.  84,  87,  88,  194. 

433 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

in  rear  of  Lee's  left,  something  over  three  miles 
from  the  scene  of  our  first  successes. 

Although  nightfall  was  now  at  hand,  we  pushed 
forward  again,  but  this  time  the  Second  New  York 
and  the  Third  Indiana  led  the  advance  with  four 
hundred  dismounted  troopers,  forded  the  Totopoto- 
moy  and,  with  all  the  noise  and  racket  they  could 
make,  threw  themselves  headlong  against  everything 
in  their  front.  They  soon  found  themselves  fight- 
ing rebel  infantry  and  under  cover  of  the  woods 
creating  a  tremendous  commotion,  but  this  time  it 
was  the  left  and  rear  of  Lee 's  main  line  which  they 
were  pressing.  A  few  more  prisoners  were  taken, 
but,  as  we  were  engaged  in  a  tangled  forest  which 
the  shades  of  night  made  almost  impenetrable  for 
anything  like  a  regular  fighting  line,  I  made  my  ar- 
rangements to  withdraw,  sounding  the  recall  and  is- 
suing formal  orders  as  soon  as  I  became  convinced 
that  with  Lee's  infantry  in  front  our  attack  had 
spent  its  force.  As  both  our  advance  and  our  with- 
drawal were  covered  by  a  noisy  fire  of  our  two  bat- 
teries at  an  effective  range,  our  success  was  height- 
ened, while  the  confusion  of  the  enemy  as  to  its 
extent  and  purpose  was  much  increased.  With  three 
times  the  force  the  result  might  have  been  decidedly 
different. 

As  may  be  easily  understood,  our  retirement  in 
the  dark  was  without  disorder  or  delay,  but  it  was 
well  toward  midnight  before  we  were  again  in 
bivouac,  with  pickets  properly  posted  and  our  ex- 
hausted and  hungry  men  and  horses  again  at  rest. 

I,  of  course,  sent  frequent  couriers  by  the  road 
on  which  we  came  to  army  headquarters,  but  when 
our  work  was  done   and  the  stories  told  by  the 

434 


ADVANCE    TO   THE   JAMES 

prisoners  had  been  collected  I  sent  my  engineer, 
Captain  UlfYers,  an  accomplished  German  topogra- 
pher and  surveyor,  long  resident  in  the  States,  in 
person  to  Meade's  headquarters  with  a  full  report, 
but,  relying  on  his  knowledge  of  the  country,  I  left 
him  free  to  take  what  route  he  pleased.  Being  a 
man  of  but  few  words,  he  said  nothing,  and,  unfor- 
tunately, decided  to  make  a  bee  line  by  compass  to 
the  point  at  which  he  supposed  he  would  find  Meade 
and  his  staff.  As  it  was  pitch  dark  and  the  enemy's 
army  lay  directly  across  his  route,  he  soon  found 
himself  riding  into  Lee's  headquarters  instead  of 
Meade's.  His  surprise  was,  however,  not  greater 
than  that  of  the  Confederates  from  whom  he  in- 
quired his  way,  but  there  was  nothing  further  for 
him  to  do  but  surrender  when  told  that  he  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  rebel  camps.  Thus  realizing  that 
the  longest  way  around  is  sometimes  the  shortest 
way  home,  he  was  chagrined  to  find  himself  a 
prisoner  of  war. 

He  was  taken  at  once  to  Lee,  who  questioned 
him  closely,  but  he  was  fully  on  his  guard  and  told 
only  what  he  thought  would  add  to  the  night's  con- 
fusion. The  next  day  he  was  sent  to  Richmond  and 
shortly  afterward  to  Salisbury,  North  Carolina, 
where  he  was  imprisoned  and,  as  he  always  alleged, 
treated  with  cruelty  which  impelled  him  to  escape 
if  possible.  Upon  two  occasions  he  got  away,  but 
was  recaptured  and  taken  back  to  the  prison  pen. 
On  the  third,  guided  by  the  stars,  he  escaped  into 
South  Carolina,  and  finally  by  traveling  only  at 
night  succeeded  in  joining  Sherman's  army  near 
Savannah.  Being  well  known  to  all  the  leading  gen- 
erals,  he  received  a  hearty  welcome,   but,    oddly 

435 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

enough,  his  friends,  instead  of  offering  him  food, 
which  he  needed  badly,  opened  wine  or  poured  out 
whisky  so  freely  that  he  became  hopelessly  and  help- 
lessly drunk,  and  did  not  get  over  it  for  three  days. 
He  rejoined  me  at  Macon  just  as  the  war  was 
closing,  after  a  full  year's  absence,  during  which 
he  had  evidently  suffered  great  hardship  and  priva- 
tion. Reduced  to  skin  and  bones,  the  story  of  his 
adventures  was  touching  in  the  extreme.  In  mak- 
ing his  way  south  he  avoided  the  highways  and 
public  roads  and  traveled  through  the  woods,  mostly 
by  night.  His  only  friends  were  the  negroes,  some 
of  whom  he  had  been  warned  against.  He  generally 
slept  in  the  woods,  but  preferably  in  gin-houses, 
where  he  found  a  comfortable  bed  under  the  un- 
ginned  cotton.  On  one  occasion  he  was  sleeping 
soundly  when  his  uncovered  head  and  his  long  and 
unkempt  hair  betrayed  him.  A  violent  blow  on  the 
head  not  only  aroused  but  brought  him  to  his  feet  in 
fear  and  trembling.  He  was  greatly  relieved  by  see- 
ing that  the  blow  had  come  from  a  little  negro  who 
had  climbed  into  the  window  and  mistaken  his  mat 
of  hair  in  the  dim  light  for  a  cat  which  he  was  huntj 
ing.  Seeing  the  long,  specter-like  figure  rising  from 
the  cotton,  the  boy  screamed,  fell  out  of  the  window 
backward,  and  ran  yelling  to  the  house  as  though 
a  devil  were  after  him.  This  brought  the  colored 
overseer  to  the  scene,  who,  perceiving  that  an  es- 
caped Union  prisoner  had  raised  the  alarm,  got  him 
across  the  field  into  the  woods  as  soon  as  possible 
with  such  supplies  and  traveling  directions  as  he 
needed  for  the  next  day  and  night.  He  had  been 
especially  warned  against  this  man,  but  his  kindness 
showed  that  however  devoted  he  might  be  to  his 

436 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

master,  he  was  at  heart  a  Union  man,  anxious  to 
see  the  Union  armies  prevail  and  slavery  abolished. 
The  captain  averred  that  throughout  his  long  and 
perilous  journey  he  never  failed  to  receive  aid  and 
comfort  from  the  negroes,  and  never  expected  either 
from  the  white  natives,  no  matter  how  poor  they 
were.  He  was,  therefore,  one  of  the  few  Union  men 
who  was  slow  to  forgive.  After  the  war  he  became 
an  assistant  civil  engineer  on  public  works  with  me 
and  afterward  with  General  Weitzel,  and  finally  died 
in  the  service,  honored  and  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  high  education, 
worth,  and  modesty,  belonging  to  the  family  of 
UlfTers  von  Nostitz,  and  while  a  prisoner  his  family 
anxiously  inquired  after  him  through  Prussian 
diplomatic  channels. 

Shortly  after  one  o'clock  the  morning  of  our 
demonstration  against  Lee's  left  I  received  a  note 
from  Meade,  thanking  me  for  my  success  and  con- 
gratulating me  on  its  good  effect,  but  I  could  not 
help  thinking  how  much  more  might  have  been  ac- 
complished had  the  whole  corps  gone  with  us,  as 
it  might  well  have  done.  By  daylight  the  enemy 
had  disappeared  from  the  neighborhood  of  Via's 
house  and  was  moving  toward  his  right  and  rear. 

Later  in  the  day  heavy  firing  prevailed  in  the 
direction  of  Cold  Harbor,  as  though  a  battle  were 
raging  in  that  quarter.  We  kept  constantly  on  the 
qui  vive  for  the  next  forty-eight  hours  and,  although 
not  positively  engaged,  our  patroling  parties  were 
heavy  and  our  anxiety  great.  To  make  matters 
worse,  we  were  on  short  rations.  My  headquarters 
had  nothing  in  the  camp  chest  and  on  Sancho 
Panza's  principle  that  "he  who  sleeps,  eats,"  my 

437 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

officers  and  I  had  gone  to  bed,  not  only  to  rest,  but 
to  allay  the  pangs  of  hunger.  About  nine  o'clock 
I  was  aroused  by  the  quick,  sharp  challenge  of  the 
sentry :  ' '  Halt !  Who  comes  there ! ' ' — followed  by, 
"Advance,  friend,  and  give  the  countersign ! ' f  I  was 
lying  on  a  bed  of  pine  leaves  under  a  fence  rail 
shelter  at  the  forks  of  the  road.  A  moment  later 
an  orderly  from  Grant's  headquarters  handed  me 
a  small  package  with  an  envelope  addressed  in 
Grant's  own  hand.  It  inclosed  a  note  running  about 
as  follows: 

Brigadier  General  Wilson  is  hereby  detailed  to  test 
and  report  upon  Hosford's  prepared  rations,  samples  of 
which  are  herewith  transmitted: 

For  three  days  preceding  his  tests,  General  Wilson  will 
live  off  of  the  country  through  which  he  is  marching,  and 
during  his  tests  he  will  live  solely  upon  the  rations  here- 
with supplied.  Having  consumed  the  same,  he  will  report 
his  conclusions  to  these  headquarters. 

Inasmuch  as  I  had  not  had  a  square  meal  for  a 
week  and  the  country  in  which  we  were  operating 
had  been  swept  clean  of  all  food  supplies,  a  fact 
which  nobody  knew  better  than  Grant  himself,  I 
considered  the  order  a  grim  piece  of  humor,  but  as 
I  was  half -famished,  I  proceeded  at  once  to  test  the 
rations.  They  consisted  of  three  desiccated,  con- 
densed, black  meat  biscuits,  very  much  the  size  and 
color  of  a  cake  of  shoeblacking,  and  of  three  half- 
pound  packages  of  cracked  wheat  which  had  been 
toasted  and  slightly  sweetened.  I  fell  to  imme- 
diately, finding  the  former  impossible  to  masticate 
till  broken  into  fragments  and  made  into  a  stew,  but 
the  latter  was  palatable  and  refreshing  from  the 
first.    On  the  whole  the  rations  were  so  satisfactory 

438 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

that  I  immediately  made  requisition  for  ten  thou- 
sand, which,  by  the  way,  were  never  furnished,  but 
I  am  sure  they  would  have  been  most  useful  and  ac- 
ceptable to  both  officers  and  men  engaged  in  raids 
or  distant  operations  where  the  country  was  short 
of  food.  The  next  time  I  met  the  General  we  had 
a  pleasant  chat  about  the  rations  and  my  requisition 
for  a  supply  of  the  same.  The  joke  was  on  him  and 
not  on  me. 

But  as  the  army  was  still  operating  by  its  left 
flank,  there  was  no  time  for  business  outside  of  the 
usual.  The  next  day  Sheridan  called  upon  me  and 
later  in  the  afternoon  Dana  rode  over  to  learn  how 
matters  were  going  in  our  front.  He  remained  to 
dinner  and  seemed  to  find  the  Hosford's  prepared 
rations  somewhat  palatable,  though  hardly  suitable 
for  a  steady  diet.  I  had  succeeded  in  adding  hard- 
tack, coffee,  and  bacon  to  the  meal,  all  of  which  he 
found  agreeable  additions  to  what  the  General  had 
contributed.  It  was  a  laughable  episode,  which  welL 
emphasized  the  conditions  about  us. 

The  next  day  Torbert  's  division  took  position  on 
my  left,  filling  the  gap  made  by  the  gradual  with- 
drawal of  the  infantry  toward  Cold  Harbor.  Heavy 
firing  was  continuous  in  that  direction,  and  for  two 
nights  the  cavalry  kept  constantly  on  the  alert,  but 
as  the  enemy  disappeared  and  the  cannonading 
grew  more  distant  and  more  intermittent  our  men 
and  horses  gradually  got  rested. 

During  Sheridan's  visit  he  informed  me  that  he 
should  soon  start  with  two  divisions  to  operate 
against  the  railroads  north  of  Eichmond,  and  this 
would  leave  me  and  my  division  to  look  after  both 
the  left  and  right  of  the  army,  which  had  been  heav- 

439 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

ily  engaged  for  several  days  and  had  suffered  great 
loss  in  its  efforts  to  dislodge  Lee  from  his  position 
in  front  of  the  Chickahominy  at  Cold  Harbor. 
Meanwhile,  Sheridan,  in  carrying  ont  his  instruc- 
tions, concentrated  Torbert  and  Gregg  at  New 
Castle  Ferry  in  onr  rear,  leaving  me  to  watch 
Grant's  entire  right  as  far  around  as  the  Pamunkey 
with  one  brigade,  while  the  other  was  transferred 
to  the  left  of  the  army,  with  instructions  to  cover 
the  country  to  Jones'  Bridge,  on  the  Chickahominy. 
With  my  small  force  thus  scattered,  it  was  impos- 
sible to  do  more  than  keep  watch  and  ward  over 
the  enemy's  movements  in  either  direction.  It  was 
work  of  observation  and  patrol.  Pickets  were 
posted  and  couriers  were  kept  on  the  move  in  all 
directions  and,  although  the  division  was  watching 
a  front  of  at  least  twenty-five  miles,  the  enemy  made 
no  move  which  it  did  not  discover.  Fortunately 
for  us,  however,  Lee  was  strictly  on  the  defensive, 
and  still  more  fortunately,  perhaps,  Sheridan's 
movement  toward  Gordonsville  attracted  Hampton's 
attention  to  his  operations  in  that  quarter. 

While  it  is  not  my  intention  to  comment  upon 
Sheridan's  operations,  I  cannot  let  them  pass  with- 
out calling  attention  to  the  insufficiency  of  his  force 
and  the  futility  of  his  efforts  to  break  further  the 
roads  north  of  the  James  and  by  joining  Hunter 
to  cut  off  Lee's  communications  with  Lynchburg. 
My  destruction  of  the  bridges  over  the  South  Anna 
and  Little  Eivers  a  few  days  before  had  so  dis- 
abled the  roads  in  that  quarter  they  could  not  be 
used  till  the  bridges  were  rebuilt.  Sheridan's  de- 
tachment, therefore,  was  premature  and  had  no 
other  immediate  result  than  to  draw  Hampton  after 

440 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

him.  Each  of  those  great  leaders  had  two  divisions, 
and  while  the  preponderance  of  strength  was  doubt- 
less with  Sheridan,  his  superiority  of  numbers  was 
not  sufficient  to  give  him  a  ready  victory  over  his 
opponent.  They  met  in  one  of  the  bloodiest  cav- 
alry battles  of  that  war  at  Trevillian  Station,  some 
sixty  miles  west  of  Cold  Harbor,  and  while  Sheri- 
dan always  claimed  a  substantial  victory,1  it  should 
be  noted  that  he  neither  joined  Hunter  at  Lynch- 
burg, nor  returned  directly  to  the  army,  but  made 
a  wide  detour  to  the  northeast  through  Spottsyl- 
vania  nearly  as  far  north  as  Fredericksburg,  and 
came  back  to  the  army  by  a  circuitous  or  zigzag 
route  through  Bowling  Green,  Walkerton,  King  and 
Queen's  Court  House,  and  West  Point  to  the  White 
House.  Near  White  House  he  found  his  way  again 
obstructed  by  Hampton,  who,  moving  on  shorter 
lines,  had  again  blocked  his  way.  He  finally  pushed 
Hampton  aside  and  rejoined  the  army,  but  this  was 
with  much  heavy  fighting  and  no  substantial  fruits 
of  victory.  Had  my  division  been  with  Sheridan, 
or  had  his  operations  been  delayed  till  the  army 
was  safely  south  of  the  James,  when  he  could  have 
united  his  three  divisions,  he  might  have  been  en- 
tirely successful.  As  it  was,  the  advantages  were 
really  with  Hampton,  for  he  not  only  foiled  Sheri- 
dan, but  some  days  later  fell  upon  me  after  I  had 
gained  a  substantial  success  and  gotten  almost  back 
to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  For  some  unexplained 
reason,  neither  Grant,  Meade,  nor  Sheridan  had 
yet  grasped  the   importance  of  using  cavalry  en 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  796,  797,  but  compare  Hampton 's  re- 
port, pp.  1095-1098,  describing  operations  and  claiming  a  substantial 
victory  over  Sheridan. 

441 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

masse  against  either  the  enemy's  communications 
or  his  mounted  forces. 

Our  experience  at  Yellow  Tavern,  where  the 
whole  corps  was  united  or  within  close  supporting 
distance  for  the  first  and  only  time,  should  have 
shown  that;  although  only  a  part  of  our  mounted 
troops  were  actually  engaged,  they  were  invincible 
with  the  whole  united  against  any  mounted  force 
the  enemy  could  put  in  the  field.  This  was  not  only 
true  then,  but  remained  true  till  the  end  of  the  war, 
and  the  simple  fact  is  that  Grant  deprived  himself 
of  two-thirds  of  his  cavalry  and  dissipated  its 
strength  in  a  secondary,  if  not  useless,  operation 
north  of  Eichmond,  when  united  it  would  have  been 
of  incalculable  value  in  covering  his  great  turning 
movement  to  the  south  side  of  the  James.  As  will 
be  shown,  my  own  operations  with  a  single  division 
at  the  same  time  were  entirely  successful  in  con- 
cealing Grant's  march,  but  with  the  other  two  divi- 
sions present  we  might  have  demonstrated  so 
strongly  against  Eichmond  as  to  convince  Lee  that 
that  important  point,  rather  than  Petersburg,  was 
our  real  objective. 

From  the  1st  to  the  12th  of  June  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  was  almost  constantly  engaged  in 
fighting  at  Cold  Harbor  the  bloodiest  battle  of  the 
campaign  and  gaining  no  decided  result.  As  has 
been  shown,  my  division  had  not  only  conformed 
to  the  movement  by  the  left  flank,  but  had  done  its 
full  share  in  marching,  skirmishing,  and  serious 
fighting.  The  transfer  of  Chapman's  brigade  to  the 
aggressive  flank  of  the  army  gave  me  an  oppor- 
tunity, while  going  to  my  new  station,  to  call  at 
Grant's  headquarters  and  to  confer  with  him  and 

442 


ADVANCE   TO  THE   JAMES 

with  the  staff,  as  well  as  with  Meade  and  Hum- 
phreys, whom  I  found  nearby.  It  was  during  this 
call  that  Meade  warmly  complimented  and  thanked 
me  for  the  part  I  had  so  far  played  in  the  campaign 
and  especially  at  Little  River,  Haw's  Shop,  and 
Via's  House.  I  found  him  walking  up  and  down 
in  front  of  his  tent,  flecking  his  top-boots  nervously 
with  his  riding  whip.  He  knew  my  intimacy  with 
Grant  and  my  interest  in  his  success,  and,  while 
he  was  cordial  and  unconventional  in  my  reception, 
it  was  apparent  that  he  was  uneasy  and  not  over- 
confident. This  was  shown  by  his  comments  on  the 
course  and  costliness  of  the  campaign  up  to  that 
time,  and  especially  by  the  question:  "Wilson, 
when  is  Grant  going  to  take  Richmond  I"  To  which 
I  replied:  "Whenever  the  generals  and  troops  in 
this  theater  all  work  together  to  that  end."  Meade's 
question  would  not  have  been  so  noticeable  but  for 
his  emphasis  on  Grant's  name,  and  the  impression 
thereby  conveyed  that  it  was  Grant's  special  con- 
tract and  not  that  of  his  subordinates  and  their 
forces,  as  well.  It  showed  clearly  that  in  his  own 
mind,  at  least — and  Meade  was  an  able,  loyal,  and 
patriotic  soldier — no  honors  had  so  far  been  gained 
that  he  thought  worth  claiming.  At  that  juncture 
he  was  apparently  willing  Grant  should  have  all  the 
credit,  along  with  all  the  responsibility. 

At  Grant 's  headquarters  I  found  a  different  feel- 
ing, if  not  one  of  despondency.  Grant  himself, 
while  neither  cast  down  nor  discouraged,  evidently 
felt  disappointed  at  his  failure  to  overwhelm  Lee, 
and  especially  at  the  failure  of  his  subordinates 
to  whom  the  details  of  carrying  his  general  orders 
into  effect  were  left,  to  select  proper  points,  form 

443 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

proper  plans  of  attack,  and,  above  all,  to  provide 
carefully  for  the  contingency  of  success.  He  was 
then  becoming  conscious  of  the  fact  that  his  general 
orders,  instead  of  being  elaborated  and  conscien- 
tiously carried  into  effect,  as  they  should  have  been, 
were  far  too  frequently  transmitted  to  those  below, 
literally,  without  any  special  explanation  whatever, 
and  that  the  inevitable  result  would  be  to  place  the 
responsibility  upon  him.  And  this  view  of  the  matter 
was  not  only  fully  concurred  in  by  Eawlins  and 
others,  but  also  by  Dana,  who  represented  and  made 
hourly  reports  to  the  War  Department.1  This  was 
not  all,  nor  the  worst.  Both  of  those  able  and  ex- 
perienced men  were  disposed  to  hold  Grant  himself 
primarily  responsible  for  the  policy,  if  not  for  the 
practice,  of  making  head-on  attacks  in  the  simple 
parallel  order  against  the  enemy's  entrenched  and 
almost  impregnable  positions.  They  concurred  in 
regarding  this  policy  as  faulty  and  costly  in  the 
extreme.  Both  favored  the  flanking  and  turning 
movements  which  brought  the  army  from  Spottsyl- 
vania  to  Cold  Harbor,  and  which,  if  not  yet  suc- 
cessful in  giving  it  a  decided  victory,  were  gradu- 
ally pressing  the  enemy  back  upon  his  base  and 
capital,  without  unusual  delay  or  excessive  loss. 
They  contended  that  this  policy,  though  lacking  in 
the  element  of  brilliancy,  would  ultimately  bring 
success,  while  they  feared  that  the  policy  of  the 
direct  and  continuous  attack,  if  persisted  in,  would 
ultimately  so  decimate  and  discourage  the  rank  and 
file  that  they  could  not  be  induced  to  face  the  enemy 
at  all. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  I  first  heard  of  that  omi- 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  63,  96. 
444 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

nous  and  pathetic  incident  in  which  private  soldiers 
of  the  fighting  line  at  Cold  Harbor  wrote  their 
names  on  pieces  of  paper  and  pinned  them  inside 
their  coats,  so  that  their  dead  bodies  might  be  iden- 
tified if  they  were  killed  in  the  attack. 

Both  Eawlins  and  Dana  visited  me  the  next  day. 
Shortly  after  they  arrived  Warren,  commanding  the 
Fifth  Corps,  next  to  my  right,  put  in  his  appearance 
and,  while  he  had  but  little  to  say,  it  was  quite 
apparent  that  he  was  far  from  happy  or  hopeful. 
As  soon  as  he  left,  Rawlins  and  Dana  resumed  the 
account  of  affairs  at  headquarters.  While  they 
united  in  commending  Grant's  steadfastness  and  de- 
termination, they  reiterated  their  disapproval  of  a 
certain  baleful  influence  which  had  finally  become 
paramount  at  Grant's  headquarters.  It  was  at  this 
juncture  that  Rawlins,  whose  face,  already  pale  and 
wan  from  disease,  grew  white  with  rage  while  he 
denounced  the  influence  of  Colonel  Comstock, 
Grant's  chief  engineer  in  the  campaign  and  siege 
of  Vicksburg  and  now  attached  to  the  Lieutenant 
General's  personal  staff.1  That  officer,  he  declared, 
with  blenched  lips,  glittering  teeth,  and  flashing 
eyes,  having  won  Grant's  confidence,  was  now  lead- 
ing him  and  his  army  to  ruin  by  senselessly  advo- 
cating the  direct  attack,  and  driving  it  home  by 
the  deadly  reiteration  of  " Smash  'em  up!  Smash 
'em  up!" 

As  I  had  no  sympathy  with  that  bloody  and  futile 
policy,  it  gave  me  special  pleasure  to  assure  Raw- 
lins of  my  willingness  to  assist  him,  not  only  in 

xO.  R.  Serial  No.  60,  p.  1019,  Babcock  to  W.  F.  Smith:  "I 
would  send  your  letter  to  Wilson,  but  I  am  sure  Comstock  has  more 
influence  than  he   (Wilson)." 

445 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

getting  it  set  aside,  but  in  getting  a  better  one 
adopted  in  its  place.  Thereupon,  he  and  Dana 
urged  me  to  return  to  the  staff,  on  the  plea  that 
no  one  could  fill  the  place  I  had  previously  held, 
and  there  was  no  one  in  whose  judgment  Grant  had 
so  much  confidence  as  he  had  in  mine.  While  greatly 
flattered  by  this  invitation,  I  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  I  was  the  junior  brigadier  general  in  that 
army  and  could  not  give  up  one  command  nor  take 
another  without  positive  orders.  I  declared  my  will- 
ingness to  obey  any  order  that  might  be  issued  by 
competent  authority,  no  matter  where  it  might  take 
me  nor  what  it  might  cost.  With  that  assurance  I 
urged  Eawlins  to  assert  and  stand  by  his  own  opin- 
ions as  he  had  always  done  in  the  great  emergencies 
of  Grant 's  life,  adding  that  if  he  needed  help  at  any 
time,  he  might  call  upon  me  with  the  assurance  that 
I  would  go  to  his  assistance  on  the  shortest  notice. 
I  do  not  know  what  passed  after  that  between 
Grant  and  Eawlins  in  reference  to  methods  of  oper- 
ation, but  it  is  certain  that  the  "  smash-  'em-up ' ' 
policy  was  abandoned  about  that  time  and  was  never 
again  favored  at  headquarters.  Grant  was  nat- 
urally a  reticent  man,  somewhat  slow  to  show  a 
change  of  mind  even  after  reaching  the  conclusion 
that  a  change  was  necessary,  but  he  was  far  from 
being  blind  to  the  practical  lessons  of  experience  or 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  his  subordinates,  however  ex- 
pressed. He  was  as  quick  as  any  general  to  per- 
ceive from  unsatisfactory  results  the  necessity  for 
changing  his  policies  and  plans,  and  it  is  but  fair 
to  allow  that  he  required  no  argument  after  Cold 
Harbor  to  convince  him  that  he  should  resume  the 
practice  of  flanking  the  enemy  rather  than  attack- 

446 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

ing  his  entrenchments  head-on  without  the  aid  of 
heavy  and  well-directed  columns  or  without  patient 
preparation  for  support  and  success. 

Certain  it  is  that  for  the  time  he  abandoned  the 
direct  attack  of  fortified  positions,  and,  while  his 
movements  thenceforth  were  not  always  properly 
correlated  and  therefore  not  always  victorious,  they 
were,  with  few  exceptions,  much  safer  and  far  less 
costly  than  they  had  formerly  been. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  Cold  Harbor  marked 
an  interesting  epoch  in  Grant's  career.  It  was 
properly  the  end  of  the  Overland  campaign,  which 
had  lasted  about  thirty  days,  during  which  the  army 
had  been  constantly  marching  and  fighting.  Its 
losses  had  been  greater  than  for  any  similar  period 
of  its  existence.  Its  courage  and  constancy  had 
been  tested  to  the  utmost,  and,  while  it  had  gained 
no  complete  victory,  it  moved  forward  with  vary- 
ing and  inconclusive  results  something  over  eighty 
miles,  but  at  last  it  had  become  painfully  apparent 
that  its  fighting  impulse  had  been  greatly  dimin- 
ished. It  was  as  though  the  loss  of  blood  it  poured 
out  so  freely  was  distinctly  lowering  its  fighting 
temper  and  decreasing  its  confidence  of  success. 
These  general  facts  were  freely  admitted  by  all  ob- 
servant participants,  and,  while  the  younger  and 
more  aggressive  generals,  such  as  Upton,  Ames, 
Barlow,  and  McKenzie,  had  noted  with  unerring 
instinct  the  mistakes  of  their  superiors,  Upton,  more 
bold  than  the  rest,  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in  lan- 
guage now  within  the  reach  of  all.  On  June  4 
he  wrote: 

.  .  .  I  am  disgusted  with  the  generalship  displayed. 
Our  men  have  in  many  instances  been  foolishly  and  wan- 

447 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

tonly  sacrificed.  Assault  after  assault  has  been  ordered 
upon  the  enemy's  entrenchments,  when  those  ordering  them 
knew  nothing  about  the  strength  or  the  position  of  the 
enemy.  Thousands  of  lives  might  have  been  spared  by  the 
exercise  of  a  little  skill;  but,  as  it  is,  the  courage  of  our 
men  is  expected  to  obviate  all  difficulties.  I  must  confess 
that  so  long  as  I  see  such  incompetency  there  is  no  grade 
in  the  army  to  which  I  do  not  aspire.     .     .    .. 

The  next  day  he  added: 

We  are  now  at  Cold  Harbor,  where  we  have  been  since 
June  1.  On  that  day  we  had  a  murderous  engagement. 
I  say  " murderous* '  because  we  were  recklessly  ordered  to 
assault  the  enemy's  entrenchments,  knowing  neither  their 
strength  nor  position.  Our  loss  was  very  heavy  and  to 
no  purpose.  Our  men  are  brave,  but  cannot  accomplish 
impossibilities.  My  brigade  lost  about  three  hundred  men. 
My  horse  was  killed,  but  I  escaped  unharmed.     .     .     . 

I  am  very  sorry  to  say  I  have  seen  but  little  generalship 
during  the  campaign.  Some  of  our  corps  commanders  are 
not  fit  to  be  corporals.  Lazy  and  indifferent,  they  will  not 
even  ride  along  their  lines;  yet,  without  hesitancy,  they 
will  order  us  to  attack  the  enemy,  no  matter  what  their 
position  or  numbers.  Twenty  thousand  of  our  killed  and 
wounded  should  to-day  be  in  our  ranks,  but  I  will  cease 
fault  finding  and  express  the  hope  that  mere  numbers  will 
yet  enable  us  to  enter  Richmond.1 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Generals  Smith  and 
Eawlins  talked  at  that  time,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  real  fighting  men  of  the  army  held 
the  views  which  Upton  so  fearlessly  and  feelingly 
expressed.  Years  afterward  he  confirmed  these 
views  in  his  work  on  the  "Military  Policy  of  the 
United  States.' ?    Fortunately,  Grant  took  warning 

w<Life  and  Letters  of  Emory  Upton,' '  Appleton  &  Co.,  p.  108, 
et  seq. 

448 


ADVANCE    TO    THE    JAMES 

before  it  was  too  late,  and,  no  matter  under  what 
influences,  changed  his  practice  and  pursued  thence- 
forth a  more  prudent  course.  In  this  he  had  not 
only  the  approval  of  the  army,  but  the  thanks  of  the 
country  whose  cause  it  so  steadfastly  upheld. 

It  has  often  been  observed  that  American  sol- 
diers, both  regular  and  volunteers,  are  unusually 
intelligent  men  who  learn  their  duty  rapidly  and 
soon  come  to  observe,  consider,  and  pass  judgment 
on  the  plans  and  combinations  of  their  leaders  with 
unerring  precision.  It  has  also  been  observed  that 
the  general  who  does  not  read  success  or  failure  in 
the  faces  of  his  men  as  soon  as  the  combinations 
are  well  under  way  is  unworthy  to  lead  them.  It 
was  greatly  to  Grant's  credit  that  he  always  re- 
garded our  soldiers  "as  smart  as  town  folks,"  and 
when  he  pushed  them  beyond  their  powers  he  did 
not  fail  to  recognize  it  and  had  no  hesitation  either 
in  changing  his  plan  or  in  adopting  some  other  less 
bloody  and  more  certain  to  lead  to  victory. 


449 


XVIII 

THE   CAMPAIGN   SOUTH   OF   THE  JAMES 

Crossing  the  Chickahominy — Charles  City  Court  House — 
Saint  Mary's  Church— Parker  the  Indian — Covering 
the  rear — Crossing  the  James — Visit  from  Dana  and 
Rawlins — Prince  George  Court  House — Operations 
against  Weldon,  Danville  and  Southside  Railroads — 
Destruction  of  railroads — Return  from  Staunton  River 
— Sapony  Creek — Reams  Station — Failure  of  Sheridan 
and  the  infantry  to  keep  door  open. 

Having  failed  to  dislodge  Lee  from  his  entrench- 
ments at  Cold  Harbor,  Grant  now  determined  to 
flank  him  out  of  them,  and,  after  passing  the  Chicka- 
hominy, instead  of  advancing  directly  on  Kichmond 
he  decided  to  make  a  flank  march  and  then,  after 
crossing  the  James,  to  throw  himself  upon  Peters- 
burg. To  make  this  movement  sure,  he  detached 
Smith  with  the  movable  part  of  Butler's  army  by 
transport  to  Bermuda  Hundred,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Appomattox,  to  march  rapidly  against  Peters- 
burg. This  was,  also,  to  cover  the  operations  of 
the  forces  under  Grant  's  immediate  command. 

In  the  movement  to  the  James  River,  my  divi- 
sion, the  only  cavalry  left  with  the  army,  was  as- 
signed to  the  duty  of  covering  both  its  front  and 

450 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

rear.  On  June  7,  under  definite  instructions  from 
Grant  to  unite  with  Hunter  and  return  with  him  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,1  Sheridan  crossed  the  Pa- 
munkey  at  New  Castle  and,  turning  west  between  the 
North  and  the  South  Anna  on  the  12th,  fought  the 
drawn  battle  of  Trevillian  Station,  after  which  he 
retreated  by  a  circuitous  route  to  the  northeast  as 
far  as  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  thence  southeast 
and  south  to  White  House  on  the  York  Eiver,  and 
finally  to  Douthat's  Landing,  or  Windmill  Point, 
on  the  James.  He  was  absent  three  weeks  and,  for 
all  purposes  connected  with  Grant's  operations 
against  Lee's  army  and  the  bases  covered  by  it,  he 
was  just  as  completely  out  of  the  real  theater  of 
operations  as  he  would  have  been  had  he  gone  north 
of  the  Potomac.  This  was  no  fault  of  his,  but,  inas- 
much as  he  was  followed  off  by  the  most  of  Hamp- 
ton's cavalry,  supported  in  turn  by  infantry,  his 
success  or  failure  from  first  to  last  necessarily  had 
but  little  effect  on  the  general  campaign.  As  before 
stated,  Hampton  had  the  short  lines  on  him,  till  he 
reached  White  House,  whether  Eichmond  or  Peters- 
burg was  considered  as  the  base,  and  was,  therefore, 
able  to  anticipate,  if  not  to  defeat,  him  at  every  turn 
of  his  operations.2 

Meanwhile  my  division  was  constantly  marching 
and  skirmishing  from  the  time  the  forward  move- 
ment began,  on  the  night  of  June  12,  by  the  way  of 
the  Long  Bridge.  The  passage  of  the  Chickahominy 
was  made  after  nightfall,  as  previously  described. 
The  whole  of  the  next  day  was  passed  in  heavy  skir- 

xO.  R.  Serial  No.  70,  pp.  593,  598,  626,  651.  See  also  Serial 
No.  67,  p.  795. 

8  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  231. 

451 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

mishing,  with  but  little,  if  any,  support  from  the 
infantry.  It  was  a  period  of  extraordinary  anxiety 
and  hard  work,  during  which  much  ammunition  was 
expended  and  much  noise  made  between  White  Oak 
Swamp  and  Malvern  Hill,  Philip's  Plantation,  and 
Nance's  Shop.  On  June  14  we  bivouacked  near 
Charles  City  Court  House,  having  gone  there  to  re- 
plenish ammunition.  This  done,  both  brigades 
turned  toward  Lee  and  resumed  the  offensive  with 
severe  fighting  and  the  loss  of  fifty-odd  men,  killed, 
wounded,  and  missing.  But  my  observations  satis- 
fied me  that  Lee  was  moving  not  so  much  to  inter- 
pose between  Grant  and  the  river  as  to  cover  Rich- 
mond and  protect  his  own  crossing  of  the  James 
later  at  Drury's  and  Chapin's  Bluffs.  St.  Mary's 
Church  and  its  vicinity  were  for  the  next  forty- 
eight  hours  the  scene  of  about  as  much  active  cav- 
alry work  as  took  place  in  so  contracted  a  space  at 
any  time  during  the  war,  and  it  was  doubtless  on 
account  of  that  activity  that  Lee,  with  his  cavalry 
following  Sheridan,  completely  lost  touch  with 
Grant's  army,  and  failed  for  two  days  at  least  to 
detect  his  plans  or  to  foresee  his  destination.1 

As  the  senior  cavalry  officer  present,  I  was  con- 
stantly in  close  touch  with  both  Grant  and  Meade 
as  well  as  with  Eawlins  and  Dana  during  this  pe- 
riod, which  practically  ended  June  20,  when  my 
division,  having  crossed  the  river  at  Douthat's 
Landing,  was  about  ready  to  begin  operations 
against  the  railroads  south  of  the  James.  While  at 
St.  Mary's  Church,  Parker,  the  Indian  chief,  one  of 
Grant's  staff,  joined  me,  somewhat  under  the  influ- 
ence of  liquor,  and  asked  me  for  a  squadron  of  cav- 
10.  R,  Serial  No.  80,  p.  20;  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  659,  662,  667. 

452 


CAMPAIGN  SOUTH  OF  THE  JAMES 

airy.  As  we  were  good  friends,  and  he  was  ordinal 
ily  a  man  of  dignified  behavior  and  fine  military  in- 
stincts, I  received  his  request  with  amiability,  as- 
suring him  that  if  properly  authorized  he  should 
have  anything  he  called  for.  Thereupon  I  asked 
what  he  wanted  with  a  squadron,  to  which  he  replied 
that  he  intended  to  go  out,  find  General  Lee,  who 
would  not  be  closely  guarded,  capture,  and  bring  him 
in  as  a  prisoner  to  General  Grant's  headquarters. 
Fortunately,  his  credentials  were  insufficient  and 
hence  I  turned  him  off  with  a  laugh,  but  the  captain 
was  by  no  means  disposed  to  take  my  refusal  as  a 
joke,  though  he  finally  yielded  to  my  decision. 

By  4  a.  m.  on  Friday,  June  17,  the  entire  army, 
with  all  its  trains  and  stragglers,  having  completed 
its  crossing  of  the  James,  I  withdrew  my  pickets 
and  transferred  my  entire  division  by  the  floating 
bridge  to  the  south  side  of  the  river  and  went  into 
camp  near  the  Black  Water.  We  spent  the  next  two 
or  three  days  in  resting  and  feeding,  and  furbish- 
ing up  our  arms  and  equipments.  On  Saturday  I 
visited  army  headquarters  and  on  Sunday,  the  19th, 
Rawlins  and  Dana  made  me  a  return  visit.  The 
army  had  taken  position  in  front  of  Petersburg 
without  accident  or  delay,  but  otherwise  its  success 
had  been  merely  strategical.  Smith's  movements, 
intended  as  a  coup-de-main,  had  resulted  in  the  cap- 
ture of  the  enemy's  outworks,  south  and  east  of  the 
town,  but,  failing  to  receive  prompt  and  proper  sup- 
port, Smith  did  not  push  home  his  advantage,  al- 
though he  had  the  cover  of  darkness.  Owing  partly 
to  defective  staff  arrangements,  but  still  more  to  a 
lack  of  definite  instruction  to  Meade  and  Hancock  to 
support  and  cooperate  with  him,  his  movement  was 

453 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

an  abortive  one.  Smith  himself  moved  cautiously 
and  slowly,  and  while  Hancock  came  on  the  ground 
before  nightfall  and  offered  his  help  all  movements 
were  too  uncertain  and  too  torpid  to  command  the 
success  which  should  have  otherwise  crowned 
Smith's  operations  before  Lee  occupied  the  en- 
trenchments covering  the  town  in  force.  I  have 
never  doubted  that  this  was  due  primarily  to  the 
defective  staff  arrangements,  already  pointed  out. 
Had  Grant  been  in  direct  personal  command  of  all 
the  cooperating  columns  without  the  intervention 
of  others,  or  had  it  been  customary  at  that  time 
that  all  details  should  be  framed  and  supervised 
from  his  own  headquarters  instead  of  leaving  those 
for  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  to  Meade  and  his  staff, 
for  the  Army  of  the  James  to  Butler  and  his  sub- 
ordinates, and  for  the  Ninth  Corps  to  the  loyal  but 
inefficient  Burnside,  the  plan  of  campaign  must 
have  been  fa^more  coherent  and  far  more  success- 
ful.1 While  it  cannot  be  asserted  that  Petersburg 
would  certainly  have  fallen,  there  is  good  reason 
for  agreeing  with  the  subsequent  declarations  of 
Meade  and  Hancock  that  Petersburg  would  have  fal- 
len had  they  known  that  that  result  was  expected. 

But  whatever  may  have  caused  the  failure  of 
Smith's  movement  or  wherein  that  movement  could 
have  been  bettered,  both  Rawlins  and  Dana  were 
most  unhappy  over  it  when  they  came  to  my  camp. 
They  concurred  in  the  declaration  that  the  army 
was  far  too  disjointed  in  its  organization  and  in  the 
cooperation  of  its  various  parts,  and  far  too  slug- 
gish in  its  aggressive  movements.  They  again  ex- 
pressed the  wish  that  I  should  return  to  headquar- 

1  See  Wilson 's  ' '  Life  of  William  Farrar  Smith, ' '  p.  85  et  seq. 

454 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE   JAMES 

ters  for  the  purpose  of  helping  to  regulate  and 
"push  things/ '  This  was  most  flattering,  and  I 
was  too  anxious  to  help  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability 
to  positively  decline,  but  I  pointed  out,  as  I  had 
done  a  fortnight  before,  that  my  duty  was  to  serve 
wherever  placed,  while  leaving  those  in  authority 
over  me  to  determine  where  and  in  what  capacity 
that  should  be. 

Whether  Eawlins  and  Dana  fully  represented 
Grant  or  brought  my  reply  to  his  attention  I  never 
knew,  but  the  next  morning  I  received  orders  to  re- 
port at  Meade's  headquarters.  When  there  he  di- 
rected me,  in  pursuance  of  instructions  from  Grant, 
to  get  ready  for  an  active  campaign  against  the  Dan- 
ville and  Southside  Eailroads,1  and  asked  me 
when  I  could  take  the  field  with  my  own  division 
reenforced  by  Kautz,  my  old  assistant  at  the  Cav- 
alry Bureau,  with  a  small  division  of  two  thousand 
men  belonging  to  the  Army  of  the  James.  Having 
answered  that  I  could  start  early  on  June  22,  and 
having  received  verbal  instructions  accordingly  I 
rode  on  to  Grant's  headquarters  at  City  Point, 
where  Eawlins  informed  me  that  it  had  been  decided 
to  relieve  Warren  from  command  of  the  Fifth 
Corps  if  a  suitable  officer  could  be  found  to  take  his 
place.  Thereupon  I  recommended  Sheridan  in 
terms  as  strong  as  I  could  frame,  and  both  Eawlins 
and  Dana  agreed  that  he  was  the  best  man  in  the 
army  for  the  detail,  but  on  reflection  they  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  could  not  be  spared  from  the 
cavalry  for  the  special  reason  that  I,  whom  they 
would  recommend  to  succeed  him,  had  not  sufficient 
rank  for  the  position.    It  will  be  remembered  that 

10.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  232,  234,  256,  257. 
455 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

I  was  still  the  junior  brigadier  general  of  the  cav- 
alry corps,  and  had  not  yet  been  confirmed  by  the 
Senate.1  The  changes,  as  far  as  they  might  affect 
me,  were  therefore  clearly  out  of  the  question.  Mat- 
ters were,  however,  moving  rapidly.  Cheerful  and 
willing  officers  were  in  great  demand.  My  two  bri- 
gade commanders,  Colonels  Mcintosh  and  Chapman, 
had  fully  won  their  stars  and,  before  I  took  my 
leave,  Grant  promised  that  both  should  have  them. 

Here  it  may  be  remarked  that  no  man  ever  com- 
manded an  army  who  was  more  generous  to  his 
subordinates  or  more  anxious  to  promote  them  when 
worthy  of  it  than  Grant,  but  the  most  he  could  do 
in  such  cases  was  to  secure  advancement  for  the 
colonels  who  deserved  it  to  brevet  brigadier  gen- 
erals, on  which  there  was  no  limit.  No  American 
general  ever  had  the  right  by  law  to  promote  his 
subordinates  on  the  field.  Occasionally  in  cases  of 
extreme  necessity  or  as  a  reward  for  extraordinary 
services  a  general  exercised  that  privilege,  but  it 
was  always  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Secretary 
of  War  and  the  President,  who  were  in  turn  subject 
to  the  laws  enacted  by  Congress. 

The  next  day  Kautz  reported  at  Prince  George 
Court  House  with  his  so-called  division,  amounting 
in  fact  to  nothing  more  than  a  small  and  poorly 
organized  brigade  of  about  two  thousand  men  for 
duty,  which  went  into  camp  near  by.  The  day  was 
a  busy  one,  for  there  was  much  to  be  done  in  the 
way  of  issuing  supplies  and  delayed  clothing,  but 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  68,  p.  746,  Stanton  to  Grant  reports  my  con- 
firmation as  having  been  made  by  the  Senate.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  176, 
Stanton  reports  Senate  adjourned  without  my  confirmation  and  that 
I  had  been  reappointed  from  date  of  original  appointment. 

456 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE   JAMES 

everybody  was  anxious  to  do  all  in  his  power  to 
make  our  expedition  a  success.  All  regarded  it  as 
an  important  one,  though  it  required  us  to  cut  loose 
from  the  army  and  to  swing  straight  out  into  the 
Confederacy  against  the  railroads  connecting  Pe- 
tersburg and  Kichmond  with  Lynchburg,  as  well  as 
with  Danville  and  Weldon  in  the  interior  of  the 
South.  These  were  the  only  railroads  south  of  the 
James  by  which  supplies  could  reach  Lee's  army, 
and  it  was  believed  that,  if  they  were  thoroughly 
broken  and  destroyed,  Lee  could  no  longer  feed  his 
troops  and  would  therefore  be  forced  to  evacuate 
those  strongholds  and  take  to  the  open  country.  An 
examination  of  the  maps  will  show  that  the  opera- 
tion entrusted  to  me  with  five  thousand  five  hun- 
dred men  was  one  of  the  first  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance.1 My  column  should,  therefore,  have  been 
made  as  strong  as  possible.  It  was  known  that  on 
the  evening  of  June  20  Sheridan  had  got  back  to 
within  supporting  distance  of  the  army  and  that  a 
few  days '  delay  would  enable  him  to  reunite  the  en- 
tire cavalry  corps  of  not  less  than  twelve  thousand 
men  for  duty.2 

Meade',  as  we  shall  see,  favored  this  view,3  but 
Grant,  while  willing  to  strengthen  me  by  part  of 
Kautz's  command,  thought  it  best  not  to  wait.  The 
night  before  starting,  I  received  my  written  orders.4 
They  gave  me  all  the  latitude  required  with  such 
preliminary  assurances  as  I  asked  for.  They  espe- 
cially authorized  me,  in  case  I  found  it  impracti- 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  257. 

2  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  237,  255. 

» O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  232,  234,  267,  268. 
* O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  285-6. 

457 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

cable  to  retrace  my  steps,  to  cross  the  Carolinas  and 
join  Sherman  in  Georgia  or  wherever  else  I  might 
find  him.  I  went  over  the  entire  project  with  Hum- 
phreys, the  chief-of-staff,  but  on  full  consideration 
of  the  case  and  of  the  obvious  disadvantage  it  would 
be  to  the  army  to  have  so  large  a  part  of  its  cav- 
alry permanently  detached,  I  wrote  him,  as  soon 
as  I  received  my  written  instructions,  that  I  had 
no  doubt  of  my  ability  to  carry  out  my  orders  and 
fully  destroy  the  enemy's  railroads,  but  that  it 
might  be  necessary  for  many  reasons  to  return  from 
the  Staunton  or  Eoanoke  Eiver  and  in  that  case  I 
should  have  a  hard  time  unless  the  country  roads 
to  the  rear  were  kept  open  and  Sheridan  were  re- 
quired to  follow  Hampton  wherever  he  might  go. 
To  this  Humphreys  replied  in  substance  that  I  need 
have  no  apprehension,  that  the  army  would  extend 
its  left  to  and  across  the  Weldon  Eailroad  the  next 
day  and  soon  after  across  the  southside  road  to 
the  Appomattox  Kiver,  thus  covering  all  the  roads 
south  of  Petersburg  to  the  interior  of  the  country. 
This,  with  the  further  assurance  that  Sheridan 
would  be  required  to  follow  Hampton  wherever  he 
went,  put  my  mind  entirely  at  rest.  This  under- 
standing was  confirmed  that  night  by  Humphreys  to 
Captain  Whitaker,  my  aid-de-camp,  and  later  by 
Meade  to  Grant. 

With  the  assurance  which  all  this  fully  justified 
I  completed  my  arrangements  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible. Leaving  the  Third  New  Jersey  and  the 
Eighteenth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry  with  a  total  of 
one  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-six  men  be- 
hind to  guard  the  trains  and  for  such  other  service 
as  might  be  required,  I  took  the  road  at  3  a.  m.  on 

458 


CAMPAIGN    SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

June  22,  with  Kautz's  force  and  my  own  division 
of  two  brigades,  the  first  under  Colonel  John  B.  Mc- 
intosh and  the  second  under  Colonel  George  H. 
Chapman,  amounting  in  all  to  about  five  thousand 
1xve  hundred  men  and  horses.  I  also  had  two 
regular  batteries  of  six  guns  each,  all  marching 
from  Mount  Sinai  Church  near  Prince  George 
Court  House  by  the  road  leading  to  Eeams  Sta- 
tion on  the  Weldon  Eailroad,  just  twelve  miles  dis- 
tant. 

A  standing  rule  in  the  division  required  that  the 
leading  brigade  commander,  with  his  head  of  col- 
umn, should  start  exactly  on  time,  and  if  he  did  not, 
no  matter  for  what  reason,  the  next  brigade  com- 
mander should  take  the  road  at  the  minute  and  have 
it  for  the  day.  An  hour  or  so  before  the  time  set, 
Colonel  Mcintosh  requested  that  the  first  brigade 
might  delay  starting  long  enough  to  issue  clothing 
which  had  just  been  received.  As  the  weather  was 
both  hot  and  dry,  I  declined  to  grant  the  permission 
and  directed  him  to  leave  his  clothing  with  the  divi- 
sion train  behind  the  army.  But  much  to  my  sur- 
prise when  I  took  the  road  I  found  Mcintosh  issu- 
ing clothing,  whereupon  Chapman  instantly  took  the 
lead  and  I  seized  the  opportunity  to  lecture  Mcin- 
tosh severely.  He  was  both  an  active  and  a  gallant 
officer,  but  in  the  severest  tones  I  could  command  I 
told  him  that  I  could  not  overlook  his  disobedience 
and  under  ordinary  circumstances  should  relieve 
him  from  command  and  send  him  to  the  rear  in  ar- 
rest. He  seemed  greatly  astonished  as  well  as  hurt 
but,  like  the  good  soldier  he  was,  he  made  no  reply 
whatever.  The  incident  turned  out  to  be  a  fortunate 
one,  for  every  officer  in  the  division  soon  heard  of 

459 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

it,  and  Mcintosh  above  all  never  after  that  failed  to 
give  instant  obedience  to  the  orders  sent  him. 
Within  the  limits  of  his  abilities  and  opportunities 
he  was  as  good  a  brigade  commander  as  the  army 
ever  had  in  it,  and  from  that  day  we  became  fast 
friends. 

From  Reams  Station  the  "Wilson"  road  led  us 
northwest  to  Sixteen-mile  Turnout  on  the  South- 
side  Railroad,  which  we  struck  about  2  p.  m.  with- 
out meeting  any  resistance  whatever.  The  direction 
and  boldness  of  our  movement  were  evidently  a  sur- 
prise to  the  Confederates.  Fortunately  we  found 
two  loaded  freight  trains  at  the  station,  disabled  the 
two  engines,  burned  sixteen  cars  of  army  supplies, 
the  station,  wood  piles,  water  tank,  sawmill  and, 
besides,  tore  up  the  tracks  and  the  sleepers,  piled 
up  the  crossties,  and  burned  them,  which,  in  turn, 
heated  the  rails  so  that  they  were  bent  easily  around 
the  trees.  We  then  turned  southwestward  and  fol- 
lowed the  railroad  till  midnight,  burning  every 
wood  pile,  station,  water  tank,  section  house,  and 
bridge  and,  as  before,  bending  the  rails  by  the 
method  we  had  found  so  efficacious.  The  weather 
was  dry  and  exceedingly  hot,  the  country  level  and 
without  streams,  the  forests  full  of  withered  leaves, 
the  roads  dusty,  and  the  sun  beating  down  with  a 
blistering  intensity.  But,  withal,  the  men  worked 
to  the  best  of  their  ability.  Both  men  and  horses 
bivouacked  that  night  dirty,  hungry,  tired,  and  al- 
most worn  out,  but  success  had  made  everybody  en- 
thusiastic and  confident.  We  had  met  nothing  ex- 
cept here  and  there  a  picket  that  fled  on  our  ap- 
proach, but  shortly  after  passing  Reams  Station, 
the  rear  brigade,  covering  our  operations,  was  at- 

460 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

tacked  by  W.  H.  F.  Lee's  cavalry  and  sharp  skir- 
mishing followed  till  darkness  put  an  end  to  it. 

At  one  the  next  morning  Kautz  started  as  rap- 
idly as  possible  to  Burkeville  Junction,  at  the  cross- 
ing of  two  railroads,  which  he  was  to  destroy  effect- 
ively in  all  directions.  It  was  thought  that  my  di- 
vision, between  him  and  the  enemy,  would  enable 
him  to  carry  on  the  work  of  destruction  till  finished, 
and  this  was  done  with  commendable  success.  But 
one  or  two  of  his  impatient  or  careless  colonels, 
under  the  burning  sun,  did  not  do  their  work  as  well 
as  they  should  have  done.  The  Third  Division,  how- 
ever, completed  the  destruction  in  every  case,  and 
then  marched  through  Nottaway  Court  House  to  the 
Burkeville  and, Danville  Eailroad,  farther  south.  In 
this  way  we  broke  the  railroads  at  so  many  points 
as  to  entirely  disable  them  for  an  indefinite  period. 
The  hot  weather  favored  us,  for  it  made  buildings, 
crossties,  bridges,  trestles,  wood  piles,  cars,  and 
stations  so  dry  and  inflammable  that  they  burned 
like  tinder,  filling  the  air  with  clouds  of  cinders  and 
smoke,  and  setting  fire  to  the  dry  leaves  and  grass 
on  both  sides  of  the  track. 

After  leaving  the  Southside-Lynchburg  Railroad 
we  forded  the  Nottaway,  and  passing  through  a 
dense  forest  recrossed  it  near  Nottaway  Station, 
where  we  again  met  the  enemy  shortly  after  noon. 
A  sharp  fight  ensued  with  W.  H.  F.  Lee's  cavalry, 
but  as  it  was  in  heavy  woods  we  were  satisfied  with 
holding  the  field  till  we  heard  that  Kautz  had  suc- 
ceeded at  Burkeville  and  was  approaching  Meherrin 
Station,  where  I  figured  on  forming  a  junction  with 
him.  For  nine  hours  we  had  heavy  skirmishing  and 
fighting,   during  which  we  captured  the   enemy's 

461 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

guns,  and  after  disabling  them  abandoned  them  to 
fall  again  into  his  hands.  My  staff  and  I  were  con- 
stantly exposed.  Captain  Andrews  had  a  lock  cut 
from  his  beard  and  one  shoulder  strap  knocked  off. 
Captain  Sayles,  of  Ehode  Island,  was  killed  carry- 
ing an  order  to  an  outlying  detachment.  He  was  a 
most  promising  officer,  young,  handsome,  gallant, 
and  debonair,  and  his  loss  was  a  great  sorrow  to  his 
companions,  but  such  is  the  priceless  tribute  a 
country  often  pays  for  its  liberties  and  its  institu- 
tions. 

Leaving  our  bivouac  on  the  field,  we  formed  a 
junction  with  Kautz  by  ten  o  'clock  the  next  day,  and 
this  gave  us  an  ample  force  with  which  to  continue 
the  work  of  destruction. 

The  25th  was  our  fourth  day  out,  and  we  passed 
it  in  systematic  destruction  and  in  fighting  off  the 
enemy  as  we  had  done  for  the  three  previous  days. 
Kautz,  now  in  advance,  pushed  on  rapidly,  brush- 
ing the  hostile  pickets  out  of  the  way,  while  my  divi- 
sion, with  one  brigade  under  cover  of  the  other, 
burned  the  depot  at  Drake's  and  the  bridge  at  Moss- 
ing Ford,  as  well  as  all  the  mills  along  the  line,  sev- 
eral of  which  were  sawing  timbers  at  the  time  for 
the  railroad.  Every  depot,  turntable,  freight  car, 
wood  pile,  water  tank,  bridge,  and  trestle  from  Six- 
teen Mile  Turnout  to  the  Staunton  Eiver  was  ef- 
fectively destroyed,  and  as  far  as  we  knew  neither 
materials  nor  machinery  were  left  for  their  repair. 
It  was  the  best  job  of  the  kind  I  ever  saw,  and  as 
I  afterward  learned  from  General  J.  M.  St.  John, 
the  Confederate  officer  in  charge  of  military  rail- 
roads, it  was  the  heaviest  blow  of  the  kind  that  ever 
befell  the  Confederacy  till  Appomattox  wiped  it  out 

462 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE   JAMES 

forever.  He  added  that  with  all  the  resources  at 
his  command  it  was  nine  weeks,  or  sixty-three  days, 
before  a  train  from  the  south  ran  into  Petersburg 
on  either  road. 

At  two  o'clock  on  June  25  Kautz  reached  Roan- 
oke Station,  near  the  Staunton  River,  and  imme- 
diately advanced  to  the  attack,  hoping  to  force  his 
way  through  a  bottom  wheatfield  covering  the  north- 
ern end  of  the  bridge  and  set  it  on  fire.  But,  un- 
fortunately, the  enemy  concentrated  all  his  available 
force  within  his  entrenchments  south  of  the  bridge, 
and,  by  the  help  of  six  guns  at  close  range,  swept 
the  bridge  from  end  to  end,  as  well  as  the  fields  and 
roads  over  which  we  were  trying  to  pass.  The  mili- 
tia of  eight  counties,  with  a  well-drilled  company 
from  Danville,  were  so  effectively  covered  that  we 
could  not  get  closer  than  seventy-five  yards.  The 
place  was  found  to  be  impregnable. 

The  wheat  was  so  high  and  the  sun  so  hot  that 
many  men  fainted,  and  as  the  river  was  wide  and 
deep,  with  neither  fords  nor  highway  bridges  at 
hand,  after  a  careful  reconnoissance  under  a  coun- 
ter fire  from  our  field  guns  I  decided  to  give  up  try- 
ing to  carry  or  turn  the  defenses,  and  to  take  the 
back  track  as  soon  after  dark  as  possible.  The  very 
contingency  I  foresaw  had  arisen,  and  the  only 
question  left  was:  Should  we  find  the  roads  open 
or  closed  as  we  approached  our  own  army! 

My  division,  with  the  best  troops,  had  been  en- 
gaged all  day  tearing  up  the  railroad,  burning  build- 
ings, and  fighting  off  the  enemy.  Our  route  from 
Prince  George  Court  House  to  Burkeville  was  al- 
most due  west  from  Petersburg,  about  fifty  miles, 
and   from  Burkeville   southwest   to   the    Staunton 

463 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

Eiver  about  thirty-five  miles  further.  The  map 
shows  that  our  operations  had  been  straight  out  to- 
ward the  heart  of  the  Confederacy,  and,  as  we  could 
go  no  farther,  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  "get 
back"  as  fast  as  possible. 

The  strategic  advantages  were,  henceforth,  de- 
cidedly with  the  Confederates,  who  were  now  free 
not  only  to  concentrate  the  whole  of  their  cavalry 
but  to  reenforce  it  with  as  much  infantry  as  they 
might  think  necessary.  They  boldly  continued  to 
press  us  till  after  dark,  but  Chapman,  who  com- 
manded the  rear  that  day,  succeeded,  without  much 
loss,  in  holding  them  at  bay  till  further  offensive 
operations  were  impossible.  Both  forces  slept  on 
their  arms  without  unsaddling.  Fortunately  the 
country  was  well  supplied  with  horses,  grain,  for- 
age, bacon,  fowls,  eggs,  and  corn  meal,  but,  withal, 
it  was  an  anxious  time  for  us  all.  I  had  not  only  to 
choose  my  route  and  bring  of!  my  wounded,  but 
make  my  way  rapidly  toward  our  army  through  the 
forest  and  small  farms  which  covered  the  interven- 
ing country.  It  was,  of  course,  almost  impossible 
to  return  by  the  road  I  had  come  out  on,  and,  look- 
ing over  my  maps,  I  concluded  that  my  best  chances 
lay  due  east  through  Wyliesville,  Christianaville, 
and  Greensborough,  toward  Jarratt  's  Station  on  the 
Petersburg  and  Weldon  Eailroad.  After  resting, 
feeding,  and  caring  for  our  horses  and  for  our 
wounded,  of  whom  we  now  had  something  like  two 
hundred  in  ambulances  and  country  carriages,  we 
silently  took  the  road  at  midnight,  passing  noise- 
lessly under  the  enemy's  guns  not  over  four  hundred 
yards  away,  and  pushed  on  till  daylight,  when  we 
found  ourselves  at  Wyliesville  with  no  enemy  in 

464 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH   OF   THE   JAMES 

sight.  He  had  lost  our  trail  completely,  but  doubt- 
less realizing  that  we  should  endeavor  to  rejoin 
Grants  army  he  took  the  shortest  road  west  and 
north  of  us  to  his  own  supports,  leaving  us  to  fol- 
low the  road  we  had  chosen  without  meeting  any- 
thing but  scouting  parties.  We  again  rested,  and, 
after  making  coffee,  continued  our  march  without 
pause  till  five  o'clock  that  afternoon,  when  we  en- 
camped on  Buckhorn  Creek  in  Mecklinburg  County. 
Before  daylight  the  next  day  we  were  again  on  the 
march,  crossing  the  Meherrin  at  SafTold's  Bridge, 
and  continuing  eastward  to  Poplar  Mountain  and  to 
the  Nottaway  River,  which  we  crossed  at  the  Double 
Bridges  near  the  mouth  of  Hardwood  Creek  at  noon 
on  the  28th.  It  was  a  wild,  poor  country,  mostly 
forest,  broken  here  and  there  by  small  clearings. 
But  few  people  were  about,  none,  indeed,  except  ne- 
groes, from  whom  we  learned  that  the  enemy  had 
a  small  force  of  infantry  at  Stony  Creek  Depot,  sup- 
ported by  two  small  detachments  of  cavalry.  As 
the  direct  road  from  Double  Bridges  to  Prince 
George  Court  House  passes  two  miles  west  of  Stony 
Creek  Depot,  and  as  the  country  farther  east  was 
still  more  intricate  and  unknown,  I  sent  a  small 
detachment  to  clear  the  way  for  the  main  column. 
A  sharp  fight  ensued  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Depot,  in 
which  we  were  at  first  successful,  but  we  soon  found 
the  resistance  so  sharp  as  to  indicate  clearly  that 
Hampton  was  in  our  front.  This  was  soon  con- 
firmed by  the  capture  of  prisoners  from  his  various 
organizations,  who  told  us  that  Hampton  had 
dropped  Sheridan  a  few  days  before  near  White 
House,  north  of  the  James,  and  was  now  in  front 
of  us  with  his  whole  corps  to  dispute  our  farther 

465 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

march  northward.  It  was  now  dark,  and  a  fierce 
fight  ensued  with  alternating  charge  and  counter- 
charge till  nearly  midnight  without  either  side  gain- 
ing any  substantial  advantage.  It  was  evident,  how- 
ever, that  we  were  up  against  a  sufficient  force  to 
hold  both  the  railroad  and  the  Stony  Creek  bridges. 
So  far  as  we  could  learn,  there  were  no  fords  in  the 
neighborhood. 

This  made  it  necessary  to  turn  the  position  by 
the  left  or  right,  and,  as  our  maps  indicated  smaller 
streams  and  better  roads  north  toward  Beams  Sta- 
tion than  northeast  toward  Prince  George,  I  took 
Kautz  from  the  fighting  line  and  sent  him  to  the  left 
with  directions  to  force  his  way  by  the  first  avail- 
able crossroad  to  Beams  Station,  while  my  own 
division  would  hold  Hampton  in  its  front  till  I  could 
see  to  follow  the  roads  on  which  Kautz  had 
marched.  This  made  it  necessary  to  confront  Hamp- 
ton till  daylight,  and  with  intermittent  charge  and 
countercharge  it  was  a  night  of  unusual  peril  and 
excitement.  The  enemy,  feeling  that  he  had  us  in 
the  toils,  made  three  successive  attacks  on  our  dis- 
mounted line  nearly  a  mile  long.  I  lay  with  my  staff 
in  the  edge  of  a  cleared  field  personally  watching 
and  directing  the  defense.  Of  course,  we  got  no 
sleep,  and  when  a  courier  came  about  daylight  with 
a  dispatch  from  Kautz  saying  that  the  road  was 
clear  to  Beams  Station,  I  withdrew  all  the  men 
except  a  rear  guard,  remounted,  and  pushed  rapidly 
to  the  left  and  north.  This  movement  was  success- 
fully begun  and  successfully  ended,  but  as  the  rear 
guard  made  some  noise  in  withdrawing,  the  enemy 
sallied  out  in  force.  Still  the  movement  was  not  in- 
terrupted,  for   Chapman,   who    conducted   it,   dis- 

466 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE   JAMES 

played  his  usual  steadiness  and  skill.  He  fell,  how- 
ever, into  great  personal  peril,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
he  was  near-sighted,  and  came  near  being  captured 
while  hunting  for  his  horse.  But  he  succeeded  in 
extricating  himself  and  rejoining  me  before  we 
reached  Reams  Station.  Here  the  whole  force  was 
reunited  in  order  of  battle,  well  in  hand,  by  ten 
o'clock  of  the  29th. 

Kautz  had  reached  there  at  seven  that  morning 
and  made  a  sharp  dash  at  the  Station,  where  he  en- 
countered Mahone's  Confederate  division,  captur- 
ing fifty  or  sixty  prisoners.  But  this  was  a  great 
surprise,  for  according  to  our  understanding  a  week 
before  we  counted  on  finding  our  own  army  and  not 
the  enemy  at  that  place.  We  had  had  no  word  from 
headquarters  since  we  left,  but  after  a  hasty  confer- 
ence with  Kautz  and  a  rapid  reconnoissance  along 
the  front,  I  became  satisfied  that  no  part  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  was  on  the  railroad  in  that  region, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  Reams  Station  was  occupied 
in  force  by  the  enemy.  A  division  of  Confederate 
infantry  was  in  our  front,  lying  down  in  battle  order 
with  artillery  in  position  to  sweep  both  the  roads 
and  the  fields  which  separated  us.  My  whole  com- 
mand was,  however,  well  in  hand  with  guns,  wagons, 
ambulances,  and  wounded  men  in  their  proper 
places,  but  as  they  had  been  marching,  fighting,  and 
tearing  up  railroads  night  and  day  for  a  week  in  the 
hottest  weather,  during  which  they  had  rested  at 
no  time  more  than  six  hours,  both  men  and  horses 
were  well  nigh  exhausted.  The  enemy's  cavalry 
lay  in  plain  sight  to  the  left  and  front  on  the  Peters- 
burg road.1     To  make  the  situation  still  more  des- 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  80,  pp.  632,  633,  see  sketch  map. 
467 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

perate,  we  saw  reinforcements  deliberately  going 
into  position  on  the  field.  It  was  a  discouraging  out- 
look. The  morning  was  clear,  hot,  dry,  and  silent. 
Everything  seemed  at  peace  except  the  forces  gath- 
ering for  battle.  The  prospect,  which  was  bad  to 
start  with,  was  rapidly  growing  worse.  Judging  the 
night  before,  from  the  absence  of  news  as  well  as 
from  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  that  our  road  back 
to  the  army  had  not  only  not  been  kept  open  but 
that  no  part  of  our  army  was  near  at  hand,  I  had 
already  detached  the  gallant  Captain  Whitaker  of 
my  staff  with  an  escort  of  forty  troopers,  com- 
manded by  Lieutenant  E.  L.  Ford,  Third  New  York 
Cavalry,  half  of  whom  were  lost  in  the  dash,1  to 
make  his  way  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  army  head- 
quarters, to  report  our  near  approach,  and  to  ask 
that  the  necessary  measures  should  be  taken 
promptly  to  open  the  road  for  us.  When  it  is  re- 
membered that  Meade's  headquarters  in  the  rear 
of  his  army  were  at  that  hour  within  eight  miles  of 
Eeams  Station,  that  the  enemy  had  practically  to 
march  around  his  left  flank  in  order  to  put  himself 
across  our  road,  that  there  had  been  plenty  of  ar- 
tillery firing  that  morning,  and  that  the  dashing  and 
fearless  Whitaker  broke  his  way  through  the  en- 
emy's lines  to  army  headquarters  by  ten  o'clock,  it 
will  be  seen  that,  in  spite  of  their  prior  neglect, 
those  in  authority  must  have  had  ample  notice  to 
send  either  cavalry  or  infantry  or  both  to  our  as- 
sistance, and  that  their  failure  to  do  so  was,  under 
the  rules,  entirely  inexplicable. 

They  had  apparently  forgotten  our  existence  as 
well  as  their  assurances  that  the  army  would  cross 

aO.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  492. 
468 


CAMPAIGN    SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

the  Weldon  road  the  day  after  I  left,  and  the  South- 
side  road  soon  after,  and  that  Sheridan  would  fol- 
low Hampton  wherever  he  might  go.  It  is  now 
known  that  Grant's  first  efforts  1  to  seize  the  Wel- 
don road  were  foiled,  and  that  he  did  not  succeed  in 
reaching  it  till  August  23,2  and  finally  that  he  did 
not  reach  the  Southside  Eailroad  for  nearly  a  year 
afterward.  But  how  or  why  the  operations,  which 
carried  me  fully  one  hundred  miles  into  the  inte- 
rior to  the  great  peril  of  my  command,  had  been  for- 
gotten is  past  my  understanding.  The  puzzle  be- 
comes all  the  greater  when  it  is  recalled  that 
Meade's  outposts  detected  and  reported  the  move- 
ment of  both  rebel  cavalry  and  infantry  toward  the 
left  and  rear  of  his  army  several  days  before  we  got 
back  to  Beams  Station,  and  the  only  notice  taken 
of  the  report  was  an  order  to  those  concerned 
to  look  out  for  a  rebel  raid  against  our  herds  and 
train. 

As  all  communication  between  my  column  and 
army  headquarters  was  suspended  from  June  22 
to  June  29,  I  was  in  absolute  ignorance  of  Grant's 
failure  and  of  Sheridan's  defeat,  while  both  Meade 
and  Grant  were  without  anything  more  reliable  in 
regard  to  my  movements  and  fortunes  than  the  ru- 
mors which  reached  them  through  the  ' l  reliable  con- 
trabands ' '  of  the  country.  What  had  actually  taken 
place  I  could  not  even  guess.  While  it  is  inconceiv- 
able that  the  probability  or  even  the  necessity  of  my 
return  to  the  army  should  have  been  forgotten,  I 

1  See  Serial  No.  81,  p.  685.    Lee  to  Seddon,  June  24,  1864. 

'Reached,  crossed  and  held  firmly  after  August  23,  1864.  See 
Meade,  O.  R.  Serial  No.  87,  p.  31.  Also  Grant,  Serial  No.  95,  p.  20, 
and  Serial  No.  87,  p.  19.    Also  Serial  No.  88,  pp.  1194,  1198,  1199. 

469 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

found  the  doors  not  only  closed  but  strongly  barred 
by  the  enemy. 

Discouraging  as  the  outlook  was,  however,  I  lit- 
erally hoped  for  Sheridan  or  night  to  help  us  out 
of  our  straits  before  the  enemy  could  begin  his  at- 
tack. Firing  an  occasional  gun  and  displaying  as 
much  deliberation  and  confidence  in  posting  my  bat- 
teries and  forming  my  cavalry  for  vigorous  action 
as  did  Hampton,  Lee,  and  Mahone  in  fronting  me, 
I  felt  that  our  army  could  not  be  far  away  and  that 
my  duty  was  to  gain  as  much  time  as  possible  to  per- 
mit Meade  to  send  troops  to  my  assistance.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  I  did  not  even  know  that  our 
army  was  still  in  front  of  Petersburg,  though  I  felt 
that  if  it  had  been  driven  back  the  news  would  prob- 
ably have  reached  me  through  the  country  people. 
With  great  deliberation  I  therefore  got  everything 
ready  either  to  attack  or  to  begin  the  retreat.  I 
had  decided  to  make  a  mounted  charge  in  brigade 
columns  and  had  given  orders  accordingly,  when 
two  of  my  most  trusted  and  experienced  officers  re- 
monstrated. They  urged  that  the  enemy's  line  was 
entirely  too  strong  to  justify  a  hope  of  breaking 
through  it  with  tired  cavalry  and  advised  that  we 
should  again  swing  out  into  the  Confederacy  and 
work  our  way  by  a  wide  circuit  to  the  rear  of  our 
army.  This  was  the  plan  I  adopted,  though  I  waited 
till  after  one  o'clock  before  beginning  to  put  it  into 
effect.  I  had  early  issued  all  the  ammunition  the 
troops  could  carry,  and  ordered  the  destruction  of 
our  wagons  and  caissons,  so  that  in  any  event  we 
might  travel  as  light  as  possible. 

By  one  o  'clock  all  arrangements  were  completed, 
and  shortly  afterward  our  leading  column  swung 

470 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

out  by  the  stage  road  and  the  Double  Bridges  for 
the  south  side  of  the  Nottaway  Eiver.  But  the  en- 
emy was  not  idle.  While  our  front  was  diminishing 
by  withdrawals  from  the  flanks  the  rebels  started  to 
our  left  for  the  purpose  of  taking  it  in  reverse.  The 
situation  was  becoming  perilous,  but  Fitzhugh's 
rapid  fire,  the  sound  of  which  reached  our  army,  de- 
layed the  rebel  movement  till  Mcintosh  got  entirely 
strung  out  and  clear  of  the  field.  This  was  between 
two  and  three  o  'clock. 

Kautz,  on  the  right,  undertook  to  follow  the  gen- 
eral course  marked  out  for  the  retreat,  but,  soon 
finding  himself  with  no  enemy  near  or  between  him 
and  the  railroad,  he  turned  to  the  east  and  made  his 
way  through  the  forest  without  molestation  to  the 
rear  of  our  army,  where  he  arrived  that  night, 
and  was,  of  course,  entirely  safe.  Two  regiments 
and  over  a  third  of  his  men  got  separated  from  him 
and,  rejoining  my  column,  remained  with  it  till  the 
campaign  ended.1  Shortly  after  recrossing  the  Eow- 
anty,  I  received  word  directly  from  Kautz  that  he 
was  traveling  parallel  with  me  and  would  endeavor 
to  rejoin  the  column,  but,  failing  in  that,  would  re- 
join the  army  by  some  other  route.  This  is  what 
he  did,  and,  as  he  was  not  pursued,  he  suffered  no 
further  loss.  As  soon  as  he  got  into  camp  and  re- 
gained his  breath,  he  gave  out  an  overdrawn  ac- 
count of  our  desperate  straits  which  Dana  tele- 
graphed to  the  War  Department.2  The  fear  of  our 
capture  spread  rapidly  through  the  army,  but  Gen- 
eral Grant,  a  few  days  later,  assured  me  he  had  not 
at  any  time  believed  it,  that  he  was  sure  I  would  be 
a  hard  man  to  capture,  and  that  I  would  certainly 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  29.    2  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  580-581. 

471 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

turn  up  with  my  command  substantially  intact  in 
some  unexpected  quarter. 

As  our  retreat  was  well  under  way  by  three 
o'clock  and  the  road  to  the  rear  was  entirely  clear, 
we  were  subject  to  no  further  annoyances  that  day 
but  the  loss  of  a  few  stragglers,  though  the  com- 
mand suffered  for  food  and  forage  and  from  the  loss 
of  sleep,  which  it  so  much  needed.  While  recross- 
ing  Stony  Creek  the  enemy  charged  our  rear  guard, 
and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  though  the  main  column 
could  not  pass  the  defile  at  the  bridge  without  mate- 
rial loss.  Mcintosh,  however,  covered  the  operation 
in  a  masterly  manner,  and  although  we  thought  it 
best,  because  the  artillery  horses  were  exhausted, 
to  spike  our  guns  later  and  throw  them  into  the  river 
we  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Dpuble  Bridges  and 
reaching  Jarratt's  Station  on  the  railroad  shortly 
after  two  o  'clock  the  next  morning.  Here  we  rested 
for  two  hours  without  unsaddling  or  making  camp, 
during  which  time  we  got  new  guides  and  prepared 
to  push  on  toward  the  east.  Starting  again  at  dawn 
by  a  wood  road  we  reached  Peters  Bridge  near  Lit- 
tleton and  recrossed  the  Nottaway  to  the  eastward 
at  1  p.  m.  on  June  30.  Fortunately,  the  country, 
although  thinly  settled,  had  paid  but  little  tribute 
to  the  war.  It  had  a  fair  amount  of  supplies  for 
both  man  and  beast,  and,  although  the  troopers  were 
worn  out  by  fatigue  and  loss  of  sleep,  they  soon 
gathered  in  all  the  food  and  forage  necessary.  Rest- 
ing only  four  hours  we  began  the  march  again  at 
nightfall,  making  our  way  northeast  toward  the 
Blackwater  at  Blunt 's  Bridge,  where  our  guides 
informed  us  we  should  either  find  a  standing  bridge 
or  a  passable  ford. 

472 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH   OF   THE   JAMES 

That  night  march  was  the  most  trying  and  exas- 
perating one  in  which  I  ever  took  part.  The  coun- 
try was  covered  almost  the  entire  distance  between 
the  Nottaway  and  the  Blackwater  by  an  unbroken 
forest,  in  which  the  trees  were  large  and  the  under- 
brush at  many  places  almost  impenetrable.  The 
roads  were  obscure  and  difficult  to  follow,  and  con- 
sequently our  progress  was  slow.  The  columns 
halted  frequently  and,  as  soon  as  halted,  the  troop- 
ers would  fall  asleep  in  their  saddles,  and  in  the 
blackness  of  the  forest  it  was  always  difficult  to  find 
where  the  halt  had  occurred  or  to  learn  what  caused 
it.  Flankers  were  of  course  kept  well  out  in  the 
direction  from  which  the  enemy  might  be  expected, 
and  shortly  after  dark  they  captured  a  few  pris- 
oners from  Hampton's  advance,  moving  down  the 
Jerusalem  plank  road  in  a  direction  squarely  cross- 
ing our  column.  My  own  orderly,  Private  Chance, 
of  the  Second  Ohio  Cavalry,  had  obtained  permis- 
sion to  join  the  flankers  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
a  remount  to  replace  his  played-out  horse.  About 
ten  o'clock  that  night  he  rejoined  me  with  two  pris- 
oners, who  had  at  first  surprised  and  captured  him 
in  a  farmer's  stable  yard,  but  in  the  darkness  they 
failed  to  discover  his  revolver  which,  in  those  days, 
the  self-confident  orderly  generally  carried  thrust 
down  his  boot  leg.  The  captors,  who  were  in  a 
hurry  and  not  over-scrupulous  as  to  the  practices 
of  cavalrymen,  required  him  to  mount  his  stolen 
horse  and  take  the  road  with  them.  As  was  the 
good-natured  practice  of  the  times,  the  three  troop- 
ers soon  became  interested  in  each  other,  and,  as 
my  orderly  was  not  slow  to  discover  that  they  be- 
longed to  the  advance  guard  of  Hampton's  cavalry, 

473 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

which  could  not  be  far  behind,  he  watched  for  his 
opportunity,  and,  when  he  caught  both  in  front  and 
in  range,  drew  his  revolver  and  not  only  compelled 
them  in  turn  to  surrender  but  to  hurry  with  him  to 
my  headquarters. 

Fortunately  for  us,  the  prisoners  were  bright, 
intelligent  young  fellows,  who  talked  freely,  doubt- 
less on  the  theory  that  we  should  draw  but  little 
consolation  from  the  information  they  might  im- 
part. As  it  turned  out,  however,  they  confirmed 
what  had  already  reached  me  from  other  sources, 
and  this  caused  us  to  quicken  our  march  as  much 
as  possible,  so  as  to  cross  the  plank  road  and  reach 
the  Blackwater  before  the  enemy.  Still  more  for- 
tunately, however,  Hampton  was  not  aware  of  his 
advantage  nor  of  our  exhausted  condition,  and  there- 
fore, although  he  had  the  radius  while  we  were 
moving  on  the  arc  of  the  circle,  he  failed  to 
intercept  us. 

But  our  troubles  were  not  yet  at  an  end.  Al- 
though I  reached  the  Blackwater  just  after  mid- 
night, where  the  entire  command,  covered  by  a 
strong  rear  guard,  soon  joined  me,  but,  instead  of 
finding  a  passable  bridge,  I  found  the  burned  and 
blackened  ruins  of  one,  and,  instead  of  a  ford,  a 
river  apparently  wide  and  deep  enough  to  float  the 
Great  Eastern.  It  was  a  dark  and  dismal  scene  in 
the  midst  of  a  river  bottom  crowded  with  forest 
trees  clad  with  festoons  of  black  hanging  moss  and 
resounding  with  the  hooting  of  distant  owls  and  the 
baying  of  distant  dogs.  But  it  was  no  time  for  dis- 
couragement by  difficulties  in  front  or  by  dangers 
in  rear.  I  had  built  many  military  bridges  in  my 
day,  but  was  now  face  to  face  with  a  problem  such 

474 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE   JAMES 

as  I  had  never  met  before.  Hitherto,  my  task  had 
been  to  get  an  advancing  army  across  in  pursuit  of 
one  trying  to  get  away.  Now  the  conditions  were 
reversed,  and  it  was  my  task  to  build  a  bridge  which 
would  carry  my  own  retreating  command  to  a  place 
of  safety  on  the  other  side  of  ^  river  dividing  two 
military  zones. 

Providentially  the  center  trestle  was  standing, 
but  there  was  absolutely  no  bridge  material  at  hand 
except  two  string  pieces,  one  of  which,  half  burned 
through,  we  used  with  the  other  as  a  connection 
over  which  a  man  with  a  steady  head  might  make  his 
way  to  the  farther  side  of  the  stream.  With  these 
two  beams  as  platform  and  directrix,  I  had  a  pass- 
able structure  ready  in  less  than  an  hour.  I  had 
promptly  taken  in  the  situation,  and  sent  men  into 
the  forest  to  cut  four  young  pine  trees  of  the  proper 
length,  which  were  soon  in  position,  and  covered  by 
a  roadway  made  of  fence  rails  and  pine  boughs. 
The  column  started  across  dismounted,  each  man 
leading  his  horse  by  the  light  of  fence-rail  fires  at 
the  ends  of  the  bridge,  but  only  one  or  two  squad- 
rons had  got  over  when  the  burned  stringer  gave 
way  and  toppled  the  passing  column  into  the  river 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  below.  With  men  and  horses 
struggling  in  water  as  black  as  the  Styx,  the  scene 
was  one  never  to  be  forgotten,  but  without  wasting 
time  I  called  for  another  tree  already  at  hand,  and 
in  less  than  thirty  minutes  the  breach  was  repaired 
and  the  column  again  in  motion.  It  may  be  noted 
that,  although  I  was  standing  on  the  bridge  and  felt 
it  giving  away,  I  stepped  on  to  the  only  stable  cross- 
beam as  the  span  was  going  down,  and  was  the  only 
man  on  the  structure  that  did  not  fall  into  the  river. 

475 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

By  daylight  on  July  1,  the  body  of  the  com- 
mand was  safely  over,  but  as  stragglers  were  still 
coming  in  I  kept  the  rear  guard  well  out  tiL  after 
sunup.  It  was  a  brilliant,  hot  morning,  and  when 
the  last  man,  horse,  wagon,  and  contraband  had 
passed  on  toward  the  James  Eiver  and  just  as  the 
enemy  made  his  appearance  at  6:15,  I  personally 
set  fire  to  a  pile  of  dried  leaves  and  pine  fence  rails 
which  I  had  got  ready  under  the  bridge  while  the 
column  was  crossing,  and  almost  instantly  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  improvised  structure, 
wrapped  in  a  cloud  of  smoke,  burning  like  a  bonfire, 
as  it  really  was. 

A  few  minutes  later  a  Confederate  officer  closed 
in  on  the  bridge  and,  seeing  not  only  that  our  last 
straggler  had  escaped,  but  that  further  pursuit  was 
impossible,  he  cheerily  called  a  truce  with  a  ' '  Good- 
by,  boys,  I  am  sorry  to  see  you  safely  over."  This 
pleasing  episode  put  my  mind  at  rest.  For  the  first 
time  in  ten  days  I  was  slowly  becoming  conscious 
of  hunger.  As  my  command  was  now  well  on  the 
road  to  the  James  River,  with  all  doubt  of  its  safety 
at  an  end,  my  reply  was  one  of  cheerful  badinage 
and  exultation,  while  his  rejoinder  was  one  of  good- 
natured  regret,  but  we  parted  like  soldiers  with  a 
polite  "hail  and  farewell/ '  which  he  will  surely 
recall  if  he  ever  reads  this  narrative. 

My  steward  and  purveyor,  foreseeing  that  I  must 
now  be  fed,  had  impressed  a  neighboring  farm  house 
and  its  resources  for  a  hearty  breakfast  of  ham, 
eggs,  fried  potatoes,  and  corn  bread,  and  I  was 
about  ready  to  mount  when  he  made  his  appearance 
with  his  savory  viands.  Seated  near  the  river, 
under  a  shade  tree,  I  made  a  substantial  meal,  which 

476 


CAMPAIGN    SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

I  washed  down  with  army  coffee.  My  staff  and  or- 
derlies were  even  more  hungry  and  more  exultant 
than  I  was,  for  they  were  now  sure  that  neither 
prison  nor  further  exposure  awaited  them.  Every 
man  had  had  a  hard  time,  and  each  had  his  story  of 
adventure  to  tell. 

As  our  horses  played  out  on  the  march,  it 
became  necessary  to  be  constantly  on  the  lookout 
for  new  ones.  One  of  my  aids  had  changed  several 
times,  and  one  evening,  just  after  we  went  into  biv- 
ouac, he  came  in  from  the  flank  riding  a  handsome, 
high-headed  chestnut  single-footer  which  would 
have  delighted  the  heart  of  a  Kentucky  horse 
breeder.  Calling  on  the  staff  to  admire  his  new 
charger  as  the  finest  in  the  command,  I  answered: 
"  As  he  seems  to  be  fresh,  and  all  you  claim  for  him, 
please  ride  back  and  tell  Chapman  not  to  go  into 
camp  till  he  crosses  the  bridge  and  then  to  picket 
the  creek  strongly  to  the  rear  till  we  take  the  road 
again  about  midnight." 

Wheeling  about,  the  aid  dashed  off,  kicking  up 
the  dust  finely,  but  had  hardly  been  gone  ten  min- 
utes when  he  returned  looking  somewhat  confused, 
and  remarked  that  he  couldn't  find  Chapman.  As 
Chapman  made  his  appearance  on  the  same  road  al- 
most immediately  afterward,  a  question  arose  why 
the  aid  had  not  found  him.  Brief  consideration  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  they  had  met,  but  it  was  in  the 
dark  on  the  bridge  and  before  they  recognized  each 
other  the  aid-de-camp  found  himself  pushed  off  the 
bridge  to  the  creek  bottom  ten  feet  below.  The  fall 
having  confused  him,  he  came  out  on  the  wrong  side 
and  was  back  at  headquarters  before  he  knew  it. 
But,  greatly  to  his  chagrin,  he  now  found  that  his 

477 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

new  horse  was  stone  blind.  Of  course,  he  didn't 
hear  the  last  of  the  chaffing  for  some  time. 

On  another  occasion,  while  passing  to  the  head 
of  the  halted  column  in  a  dense  wood  at  the  dark- 
est hour  of  the  night,  the  same  officer  fell  asleep 
in  his  saddle,  but  rousing  himself  by  a  strong  effort, 
all  unconscious  that  he  was  on  horseback,  he  started 
forward  again  but,  as  he  thought,  this  time  on  foot. 
He  had  hardly  moved,  however,  when  an  overhang- 
ing limb  struck  him  across  the  face,  making  him  lit- 
erally see  lights,  which  he  at  once  thought  were  on 
Broadway,  New  York.  Thirsty  and  hungry,  it  at 
once  occurred  to  him  that  he  should  cross  the  street 
and  go  into  the  Metropolitan  Hotel  for  a  drink  and 
something  to  eat.  Accordingly  he  moved  again,  but 
had  hardly  got  under  way  when  he  ran  into  a  tree 
which  brought  him  up  standing,  this  time  wide 
awake.  Dazed  for  a  moment,  and  unable  to  recall 
where  he  was  or  how  he  got  there,  his  consciousness 
slowly  returned  with  a  realizing  sense  that  it  was  all 
a  phantom  and  that  he  was  really  a  staff  officer  in- 
volved in  a  halted  column  trying  to  get  out  of  the 
woods  of  southeast  Virginia.  The  entire  incident 
could  not  have  lasted  more  than  a  second,  but  it 
seemed  like  a  long  but  indefinite  part  of  a  disagree- 
able night. 

That  afternoon  at  one  o  'clock  we  went  into  camp 
at  Chipoak  Swamp,  about  halfway  between  the 
Blackwater  and  Lighthouse  Point,  on  the  James 
Eiver,  and  for  the  first  time  in  ten  days  the  entire 
command  unsaddled,  picketed,  fed,  and  went  regu- 
larly to  sleep.  It  was  an  open,  sandy  country, 
fairly  supplied  with  forage,  and  our  rest  at  last  was 
unbroken  and  perfect.    We  had  marched  and  coun- 

478 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE    JAMES 

termarched  in  all,  as  near  as  I  could  figure  it,  from 
the  map,  something  like  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  miles,  the  last  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  from 
the  camp  south  of  Stony  Creek  to  Reams  Station, 
and  from  Reams  Station  to  the  final  camp  south 
of  Fort  Powhattan  between  2  a.  m.  of  June  28  and 
2  p.  m.  of  July  1.  During  these  two  days  and  a 
half,  or  sixty  hours,  the  command  rested  from 
marching  and  fighting  not  more  than  six  hours  al- 
together. 

Having  reached  at  last  a  place  of  absolute  safety, 
I  selected  a  small  shade  tree  at  the  edge  of  an  old 
field,  and  while  my  orderly  and  servant  were  unsad- 
dling and  arranging  my  equipments  for  a  bed,  I 
got  out  my  tablets  and  began  a  dispatch  announc- 
ing the  safety  of  myself  and  command.  I  wrote: 
f f  Camp  at  Chipoak  Swamp,  July  1,  1864,  2  p.  m. 
Major  General  A.  A.   Humphreys,   Chief-of-StafT, 

Sir:    I  ha "    I  intended  to  say:    "I  have  the 

honor  to  report,  etc.,  etc., ' '  but  after  completing  the 
"a"  and  starting  the  down  stroke  of  the  "v"  I  felt 
myself  falling  asleep.  Possessed  by  the  idea  that 
it  was  important  to  finish  my  dispatch,  I  pulled 
myself  up  out  of  the  stupor  which  was  fast  over- 
coming me,  and  started  the  up  stroke  of  the  "v," 
when  I  fell  asleep  again.  Still  half  unconsciously 
struggling  to  complete  what  I  had  undertaken,  I  be- 
gan the  final  upstroke,  but  before  finishing  it  I  felt 
myself  going  again,  and  with  the  hazy  thought  that 
my  news  would  keep,  which  must  have  flashed 
through  my  mind  like  lightning,  I  succumbed,  and 
fell  back  upon  my  blanket  in  a  state  of  absolute  stu- 
por and  forgetfulness  which  continued  till  ten 
o'clock  the  next  morning  without  a  break  and  with- 

479 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

out  the  slightest  consciousness.  It  was  the  longest 
straight  sleep  I  ever  had,  but  when  it  ended  I 
found  myself  as  completely  refreshed  as  if  I  had 
lost  no  sleep  and  undergone  no  fatigue  whatever. 
The  command  had  evidently  shared  my  sense  of 
safety  and  relief  as  well  as  my  rest.  I  had  ordered 
pickets  and  camp  guards  posted  as  usual,  and  knew 
that  the  proper  details  were  told  off,  but  I  never 
dared  to  ask  whether  they  had  performed  their  duty 
according  to  the  rules  and  practice  of  war  for  fear 
I  might  learn  that  both  officers  and  men  had  uncon- 
sciously followed  my  example  and  succumbed  to 
sleep  also.  Be  this  as  it  may,  I  found  the  command  all 
astir  when  I  awoke;  the  air  was  filled  with  the 
smell  of  coffee  and  frying  bacon,  and  the  men  were 
ready  to  lead  out,  mount,  and  take  the  road.  We 
camped  that  night  back  of  Fort  Powhattan  not  far 
from  the  James  River,  and  I  wrote  my  report  be- 
fore going  to  bed,  though  it  was  not  sent  till 
July  3.1 

The  loss  of  the  entire  command  at  first  was  as 
follows:  Four  light  howitzers,  twelve  brass  field 
guns,  thirty  wagons  and  ambulances,  which  were 
abandoned  or  thrown  into  the  river,  besides  some- 
thing less  than  nine  hundred  men  killed,  wounded, 
and  missing.  Of  the  latter  a  large  part,  mostly  men 
whose  horses  had  been  played  out,  finally  found 
their  way  into  camp  and  rejoined  the  colors,  so 
that  the  actual  loss,  exclusive  of  the  guns,  was  but 
little,  if  any,  in  excess  of  five  hundred  men,  all 
told.2 

1  See  O.  R.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  620,  et  seq. 

3  Kautz  's  total  loss,  as  at  first  reported,  was  421 ;  Wilson 's  total 
loss,  as  at  first  reported,  was  602.     Serial  No.  80,  pp.  232,  238. 

480 


CAMPAIGN   SOUTH    OF    THE   JAMES 

While  the  campaign  ended  in  disaster  for  us,  it 
was  far  more  costly  to  the  enemy. 

From  this  summary  it  must  be  admitted  that, 
with  the  proper  cooperation  of  Sheridan  and  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  both  Petersburg  and  Rich- 
mond must  have  been  isolated  and  starved  out, 
and  must  have  fallen  within  a  few  days  or  a  few 
weeks  at  most  instead  of  at  the  end  of  almost  an- 
other year  under  an  entirely  different  set  of  cir- 
cumstances. 

Improbable  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  also  true  that, 
for  much  of  the  time  during  the  suspension  of  traffic 
on  the  Weldon  Railroad,  the  Confederates  were  per- 
mitted to  run  regular  wagon  trains  by  the  country 
roads  under  convoy  around  our  left  flank  in  sight 
of  our  signal  stations  and  outposts,  drawing  sup- 
plies from  Weldon  and  the  neighboring  country, 
and  that  no  effort  whatever  was  made  to  interfere 
with  that  practice.1  It  is  said  that  warning  was  sent 
out  on  one  or  more  occasions  "to  look  out  for  the 
rebel  cavalry"  in  rear,  but  this  did  not  prevent  the 
rebel  cavalry  from  rounding  up  and  driving  off  a 
herd  of  over  two  thousand  four  hundred  head  of 
beef  cattle  belonging  to  our  commissariat.  This 
was  the  crowning  blow  against  us. 

If  I  have  dwelt  on  this  humiliating  episode  at 
greater  length  than  seems  to  have  been  called  for, 
it  is  because  the  military  lesson  it  teaches  is  an  im- 
portant one.  The  fatal  mistake  made  by  those  in 
higher  authority  of  dividing  the  cavalry  corps  into 
two  weak  bodies,  when  it  should  have  been  kept 
united  and  sent  out  with  strength  enough  to  go  and 
return  in  spite  of  all  the  enemy  could  do  to  prevent 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  477. 
481 


UNDER  THE    OLD   FLAG 

it,  should  not  be  overlooked  by  the  military  student. 
While  the  failure  to  keep  open  the  roads  on  which 
we  were  operating  and  to  require  Sheridan  to  fol- 
low Hampton  wherever  he  might  go  seems  inex- 
cusable, it  will  be  shown  that  the  fault  was  neither 
Grant's,  Meade's,  nor  Humphreys '. 

Our  consolation  is  that  we  did  our  part  thor- 
oughly, although  we  suffered  greatly,  and  that 
Grant,  both  personally  and  officially,  always  de- 
clared that  the  damage  inflicted  on  the  enemy  by 
the  destruction  of  his  communications  was  worth 
far  more  than  it  had  cost.  This  will  be  more  readily 
understood  when  it  is  recalled  that  Eichmond  and 
Petersburg,  as  well  as  Lee's  army,  from  June,  1864, 
till  the  end  of  the  war,  drew  by  far  the  greater  part 
of  their  food  supplies  from  the  interior  of  South 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
and  Alabama,  by  the  roads  I  had  broken  so  effect- 
ually. Fortunately,  the  naval  blockade  had  so  com- 
pletely closed  the  principal  southern  seaports  that 
Lee's  main  dependence  for  supplies  of  every  sort 
rested  upon  the  two  lines  of  railroads  connecting 
Richmond  and  Petersburg  with  Lynchburg  to  the 
west  and  with  Danville  to  the  southwest.  As  those 
lines  cross  each  other  at  Burkeville,  that  junction 
was  a  place  of  the  first  importance.  It  was  these 
two  vital  arteries  which  were  the  objects  of  my 
operations..  Both  might  have  been  hopelessly  de- 
stroyed had  Sheridan's  forces  cooperated  with  and 
supported  mine. 


482 


XIX 

BREAKING   LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

Grant  scatters  his  cavalry — Sheridan's  failure  north  of 
Richmond — Wilson's  destruction  of  railroads  south  of 
Richmond — Sheridan  at  White  House — Slow  to  rejoin 
Army  of  Potomac — Hampton  beats  him  to  Weldon 
Railroad — Records  and  dispatches  in  the  case — Sheri- 
dan's delays  and  excuses — Wilson's  return  to  Reams 
Station — Whitaker  takes  word  to  Meade — Grant, 
Meade,  and  Humphreys  order  assistance — Wilson  runs 
for  it — Sheridan  still  a  laggard — Kautz  lies  down  and 
quits — Sheridan's  efforts  to  exculpate  himself — Wilson 
crosses  Blackwater  and  arrives  at  Chipoak  Swamp — 
Case  fully  stated  from  the  records — Grant,  Meade  and 
Dana  declare  expedition  a  success — Confirmation  of 
Confederate  records. 

Grant 's  efforts  to  set  Hunter,  Sheridan,  and  Wil- 
son on  Lee's  lines  of  supply  and  then  draw  them 
back  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  are  both  histori- 
cally and  strategically  worthy  of  a  fuller  statement 
and  discussion  than  have  yet  been  given. 

The  Records  show  that  Sheridan,  in  his  move- 
ment north  of  the  James,  was  especially  ordered  to 
form  a  junction  with  Hunter  and  return  with  him  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac.1  But  Hunter's  orders 
were    not    so    specific,    though  Grant,    on  July  6, 

*0.  E.  Serial  No.  70,  pp.  573,  578,  626,  651. 
483 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

tried  hard  to  put  him  on  notice  as  to  Sheridan.  It, 
now  seems  probable  that  Hunter  never  received 
Grant's  letter,  notwithstanding  that  Siegel  and  Sta- 
hel  did  their  best  to  get  it  through  to  him.1  Hunter 
knew,  however,  that  Sheridan  was  operating  about 
Louisa  Court  House.2 

So  Grant's  efforts  to  unite  Hunter  and  Sheridan 
failed,  (1)  because  Hunter  moved  on  Lynchburg 
from  Staunton  via  Lexington  and  not,  as  Grant 
hoped,  from  Staunton  by  the  way  of  Charlottesville ; 
(2)  because  Sheridan  found  Hampton  in  his  path 
at  Trevillian  on  June  11  and  12,  and,  therefore, 
withdrew  to  the  northeast 3  instead  of  to  the  north- 
west, forty-five  miles,  toward  a  detachment  of  Hun- 
ter's troops  under  Duflfie  at  Waynesborough.  If  he 
had  kept  the  field  and  pushed  on  resolutely,  drop- 
ping Hampton  as  he  did  so,  and,  if  necessary,  dodg- 
ing Charlottesville,  which,  next  after  Hunter,  was 
his  chief  objective,  he  would  have  united  with  Hun- 
ter at  Amherst  Court  House  or  in  the  vicinity  of 
Lynchburg  by  the  15th  or  16th  in  ample  time  to 
take  part  in  the  attack  on  Lynchburg  on  the  18th. 
Whether  he  could  have  made  this  march  with  Hamp- 
ton dogging  his  steps  is  another  matter,  but  it 
would  seem  that  he  might  have  done  that  just  as  eas- 
ily as  to  leave  the  field  and  retreat  through  Spott- 
sylvania  by  a  roundabout  route  to  White  House.4 

Sheridan  failed  ten  days  before  I  started,  while 
Hunter  held  on  in  front  of  Lynchburg  until  the  18th, 
when,  discouraged  doubtless  by  news  of  Sheridan's 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  70,  p.  508. 

2  lb.,  pp.  98,  99. 

8  O.  R.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  795-796. 

*  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  232,  267,  268  and  285. 

484 


BBEAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

reverse  at  Trevillian  on  the  12th,  he  ran  for  it,  but 
unfortunately  again  through  West  Virginia  to  the 
Ohio  instead  of  by  way  of  Staunton  down  the  val- 
ley. Thus  the  forces  which  should  have  been  united 
were  hopelessly  scattered,  and  this,  followed  by 
Sheridan's  circuitous  march  northeast  and  south, 
away  from  the  enemy  instead  of  directly  back  to 
the  army,  gave  him  his  only  excuse  for  failing  to 
keep  the  door  open  for  my  return. 

The  situation  in  which  Grant  now  found  himself 
because  of  these  scattered  and  divergent  retreats, 
superadded  to  Meade's  failure  to  extend  his.  lines 
across  the  railroads  to  the  Appomattox,  together 
with  the  fear  of  an  outbreak  in  the  loyal  states 
against  the  enforcement  of  the  draft,  is  well  indi- 
cated by  Lincoln's  pathetic  dispatch,  asking  Grant 
to  hold  on  where  he  was  "with  a  bull-dog  grip  and 
chew  and  choke  as  much  as  possible. ' ' 1 

This  homely  language  is  not  difficult  to  fatliom. 
Grant  had  scattered  his  forces;  Hunter  and  Sheri- 
dan, failing  to  form  a  junction,  had  been  driven  off 
on  eccentric  lines;  I  had  been  handled  roughly  in 
returning  to  the  army ;  Meade  had  been  foiled  in  his 
efforts  to  extend  his  lines  across  the  railroads  south 
of  the  James;  Lee  was  gaining  confidence  and  as- 
suming an  aggressive  attitude,  as  shown  by  his  de- 
taching Early  and  sending  him  down  the  valley  to 
menace  Washington;  but  as  a  whole  the  army  was 
to  hold  its  grip  with  all  its  might  till  the  Lieutenant 
General  could  correct  his  errors  and  convert  a  cam- 
paign of  mistakes  into  one  of  proper  combinations 
and  victory.  While  the  parts  played  by  the  various 
actors  in  bringing  about  existing  conditions  were  of 

1  O.  K.  Serial  No.  88,  p.  243. 
485 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

secondary  importance,  they  appear  upon  personal 
examination  even  at  this  late  date  to  justify  a  brief 
analysis  and  summary  of  their  import. 

The  experienced  soldier,  as  well  as  the  careful 
military  student,  will  readily  perceive  the  evils 
which  might  result  from  dual  commanders  in  any 
army  and  which  did  result  more  than  once  from  that 
cause  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  It  is  but  fair, 
however,  to  admit  that  Sheridan's  apparent  disre- 
gard of  Meade  's  orders  to  take  his  place  on  the  left 
of  the  army,  and  his  unusual  tardiness  on  this  and 
other  occasions,  may  have  had  their  origin  more  in 
the  defective  machinery  and  the  loose  practice  that 
prevailed  at  that  time  in  transmitting  orders  and 
in  supervising  their  execution  than  in  any  intention- 
al slowness  or  indifference  to  the  success  of  his  oper- 
ations. Prior  to  Grant's  coming,  Meade  was  in  sole 
command.  His  word  was  law  to  all  subordinates, 
not  one  of  whom  would  have  dared  to  show  the  in- 
difference to  his  explicit  orders  that  was  manifested 
throughout  this  juncture  by  Sheridan.  But  the  lat- 
ter, as  has  been  already  stated,  was  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal officers  whom  Grant  brought  with  him  from  the 
West  and  it  was  to  Grant  that  Sheridan  appears  to 
have  looked,  and  not  to  Meade,  for  the  last  word.1 
Between  Meade  and  Sheridan  there  was,  if  not  a 
feeling  of  positive  jealousy  and  dislike,  at  least  a 
noticeable  lack  of  that  comradeship  and  sympathy 
which  usually  grow  out  of  common  dangers  and  in- 
timate personal  acquaintance. 

When  I  started,  on  the  morning  of  June  22, 
from  Mount  Sinai  Church,  Sheridan  had  been  a  full 
day  and  night  at  White  House  on  the  Pamunkey, 

10.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  374. 
486 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

something  less  than  fifty  miles  from  Eeams  Sta- 
tion, and  the  left  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Hav- 
ing failed  to  form  a  junction  and  return  with  Hun- 
ter to  Grant's  army,  there  was  no  longer  any  justifi- 
cation for  his  remaining  north  of  the  James.  Keal- 
izing  this,  Grant,  on  June  20,  the  same  day  he  de- 
cided to  send  me  against  the  railroads  south  of  that 
river,  instructed  Meade  to  order  Sheridan's  "im- 
mediate return,' '  but  left  Meade  free  to  determine 
the  "manner  of  returning  and  the  route."1 

On  the  same  day  Meade  ordered  Sheridan  "as 
soon  as  practicable"  to  move  his  command  and 
trains  from  White  House  to  City  Point,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  crossing  the  James  by  the  pontoon  bridge 
at  Deep  Bottom,  or,  if  that  was  impracticable,  to 
proceed  to  Douthat's  Landing,  opposite  Fort  Pow- 
hattan,  where  ferryboats  would  be  provided.2 
Meanwhile  Hampton,  with  most  of  the  Confederate 
cavalry  north  of  the  James,  was  watching  for  a 
chance  to  intercept  and  crush  Sheridan,3  and,  with 
the  infantry  reinforcements  he  was  expecting,  he 
was  confident  of  being  able  to  do  this.4  But  with  a 
keener  instinct  for  correct  movements  Lee  ordered 
him  on  the  18th: 

If  Sheridan  escapes  and  gets  to  his  transports  at  White 
House,  you  must  lose  no  time  in  removing  your  entire  com- 
mand to  our  right  near  Petersburg.5 

Meanwhile  Hampton  claimed  that  his  command 
needed   forage   and    supplies,    and   that   many    of 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  231. 
2  lb.,  p.  255. 
»/&.,  p.  660. 
'lb.,  pp.  669-670. 
•/&.,  667. 

487 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

his  horses  were  broken  down.1  Although  reen- 
forced  by  the  21st,  he  did  not  then  attack  Sheri- 
dan, who  was  that  day  and  the  day  before  leis- 
urely crossing  the  Pamunkey,  nnder  the  protec- 
tion of  gunboats,  while  Hampton's  forces  were  hold- 
ing the  bluffs  surrounding  the  White  House  farm.2 
As  soon  as  Sheridan  got  across  the  river  he  drove 
Hampton  from  the  bluffs  and  from  Tunstall's  Sta- 
tion on  the  York  River  Railroad.  This  done,  he  ar- 
ranged to  abandon  White  House  as  a  post  and  to 
move  everything,  including  a  train  of  over  eight 
hundred  wagons,  belonging  mostly  to  the  infantry, 
to  the  James.  On  the  22nd  he  sent  Torbert  to  se- 
cure Jones's  Bridge  over  the  Chickahominy,  and 
with  the  short  line  to  that  point  he  had  no  trouble 
in  doing  so.3  By  the  night  of  the  22nd  he  had  safely 
parked  his  train  on  the  south  side  of  the  Chicka- 
hominy, but,  instead  of  going  on  to  the  James,  Sher- 
idan rested  all  the  23rd  and  did  not  march  till  the 
morning  of  the  24th.  On  the  afternoon  of  that  day 
Gregg,  while  covering  Sheridan's  right  flank,  was 
vigorously  attacked  by  Hampton,  and  although  he 
resisted  stoutly  till  after  dark,  was  finally  forced  to 
retire.  The  train  under  Torbert 's  protection  was 
at  no  time  attacked  but  reached  Douthat's  Landing 
on  the  morning  of  the  25th.  From  that  place  both 
the  troops  and  the  trains  were  finally  ferried  to  the 
south  side  of  the  river.4 

With  his  command  and  trains  brought  safely  to 
the  north  bank  of  the  James,  Sheridan's  activity 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  669,  670,  681. 

7  O.  E.  Serial  No.  71,  p.  651. 

8  O.  E.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  14. 

«0.  E.  Serial  No.  67,  pp.  798-799  (Wilson's  Eeport). 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

ended.  Grant  was,  however,  under  the  impression 
that  he  was  crossing  the  river  on  the  26th,  but  the 
fact  is  that  he  waited  contrary  to  all  rule  until  his 
trains  were  entirely  over  and  did  not  begin  crossing 
until  the  evening  of  the  27th,1  and  did  not  complete 
that  operation  till  eleven  o'clock  on  the  29th.2  Why 
he  did  not  cross  before  his  train  he  does  not  ex- 
plain, but  as  the  river  was  patroled  by  our  gunboats 
his  trains  were  entirely  safe  on  either  side  of  the 
river  and  could  have  crossed  in  perfect  safety  at 
their  leisure.  Hampton  took  position  on  Lee's  left 
by  the  26th.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that,  with  an  entire 
day  lost  on  the  Chickahominy  and  two  days  lost  on 
the  James,  Sheridan  was  now  throwing  away  three 
days  more.  Meanwhile  he  was  asked  to  explain  his 
delay,  and,  in  reply,  attributed  it  to  an  insufficiency 
of  supplies  at  White  House.3  But  in  this  he  was 
positively  contradicted  by  Ingalls,  the  chief  quarter- 
master, who  showed  that  he  had  an  abundance  of 
both  grain  and  hay.4 

Three  full  days,  the  22nd,  23rd,  and  24th,  were 
certainly  ample  to  cover  the  twenty  miles  from 
White  House  to  the  James,  even  if  the  columns  had 
been  encumbered  by  a  large  train,  with  Hampton  on 
its  flank.  But  as  Hampton  made  no  attack  till  the 
afternoon  of  the  24th,  and  did  not  even  then  delay 
the  trains  or  in  any  way  engage  Torbert,  there  is 
no  reason  why  both  Torbert  and  the  trains  should 
not  have  gone  directly  to  the  river  bank.  The  sim- 
ple fact  is  that  Sheridan,  for  some  unexplained  rea- 

*0.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  743. 
*Ib.,  p.  512. 

8  lb.,  p.  402;  also  76.,  p.  255. 

*  Ingalls  to  Williams,  June  25,  1864,  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  402. 
See,  also,  O.  R.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  14. 

489 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

son,  was  killing  time,  and  even  after  reaching  the 
river  he  took  four  and  a  half  days  more  to  ferry  his 
trains  and  troops  to  the  south  bank.  Thus  nearly 
ten  full  days,  from  the  evening  of  June  20  to  June 
29,  elapsed  between  his  arrival  at  White  House 
and  his  getting  to  the  south  bank  of  the  river. 
Surely  this  was  not  the  celerity  that  should  have 
been  expected  from  the  great  cavalryman.  As  be- 
fore intimated,  an  explanation  may  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  Sheridan  was  looking  to  Grant  rather  than 
to  Meade  for  his  orders.1  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  was 
not  till  June  26  that  Grant  turned  him  unre- 
servedly over  to  Meade,  saying:  "Sheridan  is  now 
safe  in  as  comfortable  a  place  as  he  can  be  for  re- 
cruiting his  men  and  horses.  You  can  [therefore] 
send  him  such  orders  as  you  think  best.  I  think  he 
should  be  got  up  leisurely  to  your  left,  where  he 
can  rest  and  at  the  same  time  add  strength  to  your 
position."2  It  is  also  likely  that  Grant  imparted 
this  view  to  Sheridan,  who  visited  headquarters 
June  26,  but,  whatever  may  have  been  the  actual 
facts,  it  is  certain  that  Meade  ordered  Sheridan  at 
12:30  that  day  "to  take  up  a  position  on  the  Pe- 
tersburg and  Jerusalem  plank  road  on  the  left  flank 
of  the  army,  sending  a  staff  officer  to  headquarters 
in  advance  of  your  reaching  the  plank  road  to  re- 
ceive special  instructions  for  your  guidance.  The 
officer  who  takes  this  dispatch  .  .  .  will  acquaint 
you  with  the  position  now  occupied  by  this  army." 
Sheridan  duly  acknowledged  this  dispatch,3  and  at 
4  p.  m.  the  same  day  Grant  wired  Halleck: 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  374. 

*!&.,  p.  431. 

■  /&.,  pp.  448,  449. 

490 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

Sheridan  is  crossing  the  river  near  Powhattan  unmo- 
lested by  the  enemy.  .  .  .  Nothing  heard  from  Wilson 
since  he  left  Burkeville.1 

How  Grant  got  this  impression  is  not  explained, 
but  it  is  certain,  as  heretofore  stated,  that  Sheridan 
did  not  begin  to  cross  "  until  the  evening  of  the 
27th/ ' 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Meade  expressed  the  hope 
to  Grant  June  21  that  Sheridan  would  keep 
Hampton  occupied.  It  should  also  be  recalled  that 
Meade,  on  the  20th,  advised  that  Sheridan  and  Wil- 
son should  be  joined  and  moved  together  on  the 
south  side  of  the  James  to  communicate  with  and 
assist  Hunter,  remarking  that  the  force  thus  united 
11  could  not  be  stopped/'2  Meade  followed  this  on 
the  21st  with  a  note  to  Grant,  saying : 

Wilson  will  be  ordered  to  leave  at  2  va.  m.  to-morrow 
and  directed  to  proceed  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Lynchburg  and  Danville  roads.  Hampton  be- 
ing yesterday  at  White  House  will  relieve  Wilson  of  any 
apprehension  of  being  disturbed,  and  I  trust  Sheridan  will 
keep  Hampton  occupied.  .  .  .  Wilson  will  be  in- 
structed when  at  the  junction,  Burkeville,  to  endeavor  to 
communicate  with  Hunter  near  Lynchburg.  The  junction 
is  about  halfway  between  this  point  and  Lynchburg.  If 
Sheridan  were  here  there  would  be  no  doubt,  I  think,  of 
Wilson  and  he  going  to  Lynchburg.  Do  you  wish  to  send 
any  instruction  to  Hunter  by  Wilson  ? 3 

To  this  Grant  replied  the  same  day: 

The  only  word  I  would  send  Hunter  would  be  simply 
to  let  him  know  where  we  are,  and  that  he  could  use  his 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  430. 
•lb.,  p.  232. 
•lb.,  p.  267. 

491 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

army  in  the  way  he  thinks  best,  either  by  getting  back 
into  his  own  department  or  by  joining  us.     .     .     .  * 

The  interest  in  this  correspondence  lies  in  the 
fact  that  Meade  fully  endorsed  the  views  heretofore 
expressed  as  to  the  weight  which  such  an  expedition 
would  have  if  made  with  our  united  cavalry  forces, 
and  also  in  the  fact  that  it  shows  that  both  Grant 
and  Meade  knew  that  Hunter  had  already  failed  on 
the  18th  in  his  attempt  to  capture  Lynchburg,  and 
was  in  full  retreat.  It  will  be  noted  that  this  failure 
relieved  the  enemy  of  all  danger  from  the  west,  just 
as  Sheridan's  retreat  from  Trevillian  by  the  way 
of  Spottsylvania  to  the  White  House  had  set  Hamp- 
ton's entire  cavalry  free  to  concentrate  against  me 
south  of  the  James. 

It  is  obvious  that  Grant's  purpose  to  cross  the 
Weldon  Eailroad  and  hold  it  from  Beams  Station 
northward  would  have  not  only  made  good  Hum- 
phreys's assurance  to  me,  but  would  have  been  in 
accordance  with  the  well-considered  advice  that  Gen- 
eral Barnard,  the  chief  engineer,  had  given  on  June 
28,  that  "the  best  use  we  can  make  of  Hancock's 
and  Warren's  corps  is  to  put  them  across  the  Wel- 
don Railroad. ' ' 2  Had  this  been  done,  even  without 
Sheridan's  cooperation  it  must  have  opened  the 
door  and  thus  put  it  in  my  power  to  return  to  the 
army  without  any  loss  except  that  incurred  in  my 
outward  march. 

No  one  can  read  the  Records  without  seeing 
plainly  that  from  the  22nd  of  June  to  the  29th,  when 
I  appeared  at  Reams  Station,  the  whole  country 
on  both  sides  of  the  Weldon  road  was  as  open  and 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  268. 
20.  B.  Serial  No.  70,  p.  479. 

492 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

as  easy  for  Sheridan  and  Meade  as  it  was  for  Hamp- 
ton and  Lee.  On  the  26th  at  9  a.  m.  Meade  reported 
to  Grant  that  the  enemy  was  moving  down  the  Wel- 
don  Railroad  ".  .  .  that  our  cavalry  had  followed 
as  far  as  Reams  Station,  where  it  found  a  small 
force  trying  to  repair  the  railroad.  But  the  weather 
was  extremely  hot,  and  the  men  needed  rest,  hence 
this  force  did  not  follow  up  the  enemy  nor  retain 
its  position  on  the  road.  .  .  ."  He  concluded  as 
follows:  "I  have  no  report  from  Sheridan,  but 
such  as  you  received  when  last  here,  and  as  you  sent 
him  orders  direct  I  presume  his  movements  and 
progress  are  known  to  you."  x> 

This  shows  clearly  that  the  country  was  fully 
open  to  the  enemy,  who  was  more  vigilant  than  our 
people.  It  also  shows  how  much  was  lost  by  the 
divided  command  and  responsibility  as  well  as  by 
defective  staff  arrangements. 

Meanwhile  Hampton  was  neither  idle  nor  rest- 
ing, but,  acting  under  Lee's  orders  of  June  18, 
crossed  the  James,  as  soon  as  Sheridan  was  off  his 
hands,  at  Cox's  Ferry  with  his  entire  command,  ex- 
cept Fitzhugh  Lee's  division.  This  was  during  the 
afternoon  of  the  26th,  and  it  is  certain  it  was  Hamp- 
ton's  troops  which  were  reported  by  Meade  to 
Grant  as  moving  "down  the  Weldon  Railroad." 
On  the  same  day  Fitzhugh  Lee  telegraphed  General 
Lee  that  Hampton's  division  and  Chambliss's  bri- 
gade were  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  while  he 
was  on  the  north  side  near  the  pontoon  bridge — 
"can't  I  assist  in  catching  raiders  on  Danville 
Road?"2    His  request  was  promptly  granted,  but 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  431. 

2  lb.,  p.  690. 

493 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

his  crossing  was  fully  observed  by  General  Butler's 
lookout,  and  this  was  duly  reported  to  General 
Grant,  who  telegraphed  Butler  at  4:30  p.  m.  on  the 
26th: 

The  force  crossing  the  James  River  is  probably  the 
enemy's  cavalry,  which  was  after  Sheridan.  The  latter  is 
now  all  safe,  and  no  doubt  the  enemy  have  abandoned  all 
idea  of  further  molesting  him.1 

At  8 :35  a.  m.  on  the  27th  Meade  notified  Grant 
that: 

A  heavy  column  of  cavalry  was  seen  this  morning  mov- 
ing along  the  Weldon  Railroad,  undoubtedly  with  a  view 
to  meet  Sheridan's  force,  or  perhaps  to  attempt  to  annoy 
our  rear.  To  secure  the  rear  of  this  army  and  prevent 
annoyance  from  cavalry  raids  the  enemy's  force  must 
either  be  occupied  or  a  force  stationed  on  our  left  and 
rear.2 

To  this  Grant  replied  at  9 :30  a.  m.  : 

The  enemy's  cavalry  .  .  .  were  seen  to  cross  the 
James  River  yesterday.  It  is  highly  probable  that  this 
cavalry  will  take  position  to  try  to  prevent  operations  by 
us  on  the  Weldon  road.  You  can  give  Sheridan  such  direc- 
tions as  you  deem  best  under  the  circumstances. 

To  this  Meade  at  10  a.  m.  replied : 

.  .  .  I  have  already  notified  you  the  enemy's  cavalry 
have  been  seen  passing  to  our  left  and  rear  by  the  Weldon 
Railroad.  I  have  no  doubt  their  object  is  to  interpose  be- 
tween Wilson  and  Sheridan,3  and  in  the  meantime  to  make 
a  dash  into  our  rear,  if  practicable.     Orders  were  yester- 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  451-2,  455-6. 

8  lb.,  p.  462. 

•  Italics  not  in  original  record. 

494 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

day  sent  to  Sheridan  after  crossing  the  river  to  move  up 
the  Jerusalem  plank  road  and  take  post  on  the  left  of  the 
army.  .  .  .  The  Sixth  Corps  will  hold  the  Jerusalem 
plank  road.  .  .  .  The  withdrawal  of  two  divisions  will 
make  it  necessary  to  hasten  Sheridan's  movements.1 

On  the  27th  at  6  p.  m.  Grant  wired  Meade : 

If  Wilson  finds  his  return  cut  off  he  will  be  apt  to  go 
out  by  New  Berne,  or  if  it  is  found  that  Hampton's  cavalry 
has  gone  south,  Sheridan  will  have  to  be  put  on  his  track.2 

From  the  25th  till  the  evening  of  the  28th  both 
the  enemy 's  cavalry  and  infantry  were  seen  moving 
on  the  roads  west  of  the  Weldon  Eailroad  toward 
Eeams  Station,  and  these  movements  were  duly 
reported  to  Meade,  but  necessarily  remained  un- 
known to  Wilson.3 

Meanwhile  General  Humphreys  appears  to  have 
concluded  that  these  movements  menaced  not  only 
the  left  of  our  army,  but  the  safety  of  my  column. 
Eegarding  them  as  an  effort  to  cut  me  off  he  vigor- 
ously ordered  everything  demanded  by  the  situa- 
tion except  the  two  things  which  he  had  definitely 
promised  in  his  final  dispatch  before  I  started: 
"Our  infantry  will  hold  across  the  Weldon  road  to- 
night"4 and  "Sheridan  will  keep  Hampton  occu- 
pied. ' ' 5  Both  were  entirely  practicable.  While  the 
former  depended  on  his  own  orders,  the  latter  de- 
pended on  Sheridan,  who  was  ordinarily  most  alert 
and  active.  While  Meade's  chief  reliance  was  evi- 
dently on  Sheridan  and  orders  were  sent  to  hasten 

1  O.  B.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  463. 

*  lb.,  p.  463. 

■  lb.,  pp.  465,  469,  470,  471,  485,  486. 

*/&.,  p.  286. 

•lb.,  p.  286. 

495 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

his  movements,  but  to  meet  any  cavalry  attack  until 
he  could  arrive,  Gibbons 's  division  was  sent  to  the 
southeast  on  the  Norfolk  pike  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Blackwater  instead  of  to  the  southwest,  Ferrero's 
division  to  Prince  George  Court  House  behind  the 
army,  and  some  dismounted  cavalry  were  stationed 
at  the  Old  Court  House  at  the  crossing  of  Bailey's 
Creek,  quite  remote  from  any  point  where  they 
could  be  helpful  to  me.  "The  Sixth  Corps  [Wright] 
will  hold  the  Jerusalem  plank  road,"  four  or  five 
miles  east  of  the  Weldon  road  and  parallel  to  it. 
It  will  be  observed  that  all  of  these  dispositions 
were  primarily  intended  "to  meet  any  cavalry  at- 
tack until  the  arrival  of  Sheridan."  ?  But  it  should 
be  noted  that  not  one  of  them  was  in  the  slightest 
degree  an  offensive  movement  to  keep  open  the 
door  for  me  or  to  facilitate  my  return.  This  was 
Sheridan's  job.  It  was  apparent  that  Meade  relied 
wholly  on  him  to  follow  Hampton  and  to  extend  me 
a  helping  hand.  This  is  explicitly  set  out  and  reit- 
erated in  a  dispatch  from  Humphreys  to  Sheridan, 
dated  June  27,  10  a.  m.  : 

A  body  of  the  enemy's  cavalry,  exceeding  one  thousand 
strong,  was  seen  leaving  Petersburg  this  morning  in  a 
southerly  direction  on  a  road  near  the  Weldon  Railroad, 
probably  for  the  purpose  of  reinforcing  the  enemy's  cav- 
alry that  followed  Wilson,  or  of  interposing  between  Wilson 
and  us  on  Wilson's  return.  .  .  .  The  left  of  the  army 
covers  the  Jerusalem  plank  road  as  far  as  four  miles  from 
Petersburg.  The  commanding  general  desires  you  to  join 
the  army  as  soon  as  practicable  and  be  prepared  for  active 
cooperation  with  General  Wilson  to  aid  his  return.2 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  463-467. 

2  lb.,  p.  472. 

496 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

This  dispatch  was  sent  by  telegraph  to  Ingalls, 
chief  quartermaster,  at  City  Point,  who  forwarded 
it  by  special  messenger  to  General  Sheridan,  who 
received  it  in  turn  at  3 :15  p.  m.  He  replied  at  once 
that  he  would  "make  every  effort  to  cross  the  river 
rapidly.  The  wagons  and  ambulances  will  all  be 
over  to-night,  and  the  whole  command  to-morrow 
night.  I  will  cross  one  brigade  of  Gregg's  division 
over  the  river  this  evening.,, 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  Meade's  order,  as  above, 
while  more  urgent,  was  hardly  more  than  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  order  sent  Sheridan  at  White  House  on 
June  20,  directing  him  to  move  to  City  Point. 
Obviously  Grant 's  emphatic  phrase,  ' !  immediate  re- 
turn/ '  was  translated  into  "as  soon  as  practicable. ' ' 
From  White  House  to  the  James,  Sheridan  had  the 
short  line  on  Hampton,  and  it  is  of  interest  that  the 
distance  from  the  James  at  Cox's  Ferry,  where 
Hampton  crossed,  to  Beams  Station  is  almost  to  a 
mile  by  the  military  maps  the  same  as  from  Wind 
Mill  Point,  where  Sheridan  crossed.  The  latter 
would  travel  southwest  by  Prince  George  Court 
House  and  Lee's  Mills  to  Reams  while  Hampton 
marched  south  through  Petersburg  down  the  wagon 
road  on  the  west  side  of  the  Weldon  Railroad.  In 
neither  case  did  the  distance  exceed  twenty-five 
miles,  or  one  easy  day's  march  for  cavalry.  It  is 
also  true  that  Hampton  crossed  by  pontoon  in  four 
hours  and  a  half,  while  it  took  Sheridan  four  days 
and  a  half,  although  his  dispatch,  and  what  he  ac- 
tually did  at  the  Pamunkey,  indicated  that  it  was 
possible  to  ferry  his  troops  across  in  one  day.  We 
have  seen,  however,  that  his  command  was  not  all 
across  until  about  noon  on  the  29th.    If  this  was 

497 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

due  in  any  degree  to  Grant's  phrase,  .  .  .  MI 
think  he  should  be  got  up  leisurely  to  your  left," 
it  is  a  clear  case  of  the  unhappiness  of  two  masters 
of  one  army. 

On  the  28th,  for  some  unaccountable  reason,  in 
apparent  forgetfulness  of  the  enemy's  known  move- 
ments, and  in  reply  to  Grant's  inquiries  of  the  27th,1 
Meade  notified  him  at  8  p.  m.  that  he  had  "  heard 
nothing  from  General  Wilson,  except  the  reports 
of  contrabands  that  the  railroads  out  of  Petersburg 
have  been  cut. ' ' 2 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  that  General  Meade  could 
not  have  received  my  report  dated  June  27,  giving 
a  full  account  of  my  expedition  and  its  complete 
success  throughout,  except  at  the  Eoanoke  Bridge, 
beyond  which  under  the  circumstances  I  could  not 
be  expected  to  go.  This  report  sent  by  scout  ap- 
pears at  its  proper  place  in  the  Official  Eecords,3 
but  there  is  nothing  to  indicate  when  it  was  re- 
ceived, though  I  had  certainly  been  gone  long 
enough  to  put  my  superiors  on  the  lookout  for  my 
return.  Besides,  my  written  instructions  were  ex- 
plicit to  rejoin  the  army  as  soon  as  the  object  of 
my  expedition  was  accomplished.  My  going  else- 
where was  merely  contingent.  Meade's  order  above 
shows  that  I  was  expected  and  that  he  confidently 
believed  Sheridan  was  moving  up,  and  relied  on 
him  to  give  me  such  help  as  I  might  need.  Hum- 
phreys was  anxiously  looking  for  me.  Sheridan  was 
fully  notified  the  27th  of  his  part  and  duty.  Grant, 
true  to  his  confidence  in  me,  rested  largely  on  my 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  463. 

2  lb.,  p.  477,  see,  also,  p.  470. 
»/&.,  p.  473. 

498 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

own  energy  and  resourcefulness,  but  also  trusted 
that  Meade  would  get  Sheridan  up  and  place  him 
wherever  necessary. 

The  events  of  June  28  and  29,  momentous 
in  the  history  of  my  expedition,  have  already  been 
told.1  While  Meade  was  writing  his  dispatch  of  the 
28th  to  Grant,  I  was  less  than  thirty  miles  away, 
and  by  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  I  had  crossed 
the  Nottaway  at  the  Double  Bridges,  and  was  ap- 
proaching Stony  Creek  Depot,  there  to  find  myself 
confronted  by  Hampton,  backed  strongly  by  in- 
fantry. Where  was  Sheridan?  Still  on  the  north 
side  of  the  James,2  whither  he  had  come  pursuant 
to  Grant's  direction  June  20  for  his  "immediate 
return' '  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.3  On  the  26th, 
as  we  have  seen,  Sheridan  had  been  explicitly  or- 
dered to  its  left  flank,  to  a  position  on  the  Jerusalem 
plank  road,  which,  with  any  celerity  whatever,  would 
have  brought  him  within  five  miles  of  Eeams,  and 
within  less  than  fifteen  miles  of  Stony  Creek  Depot 
that  night.  He  received  his  order. at  1:30  p.  m.  on 
June  26,  while  at  Grant's  headquarters,4  and  it 
is  beyond  doubt  that  he  was  fully  informed.  His 
third  order  reached  him  July  27  at  3:15  p.  m.  at 
Douthat's  House  north  of  the  James.  It  particu- 
larly ordered  him  to  join  the  army  "as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable' '  for  the  express  purpose  of  aiding  my  re- 
turn.5 As  yet,  no  portion  of  his  command  had 
crossed  the  James,  but  he  promised  to  make  every 

1 0.  B.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  304,  306,  307,  310,  332,  336,  350,  373, 
402,  430,  476,  478. 

8  O.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  28. 
*lb.,  p.    231. 
4  76.,  p.  499. 
8  lb.,  p.  473. 

499 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

effort  to  cross  rapidly,  and  to  cross  one  brigade  of 
Gregg's  division  that  evening.  It  is  also  evident 
from  Meade's  dispatch  to  Humphreys  at  12  a.  m.  on 
June  29  that  he  had  on  the  28th  sent  a  further  and 
fourth  dispatch  to  Sheridan  ordering  him  "to  the 
crossing  of  the  Warwick  Swamp  by  the  Jerusalem 
plank  road,  and  is,  I  hope,  now  en  route  for  that 
point.  He  should  be  hurried  up  without  loss  of 
time  and  Wright  advised  of  his  expected  arrival."1 
The  dispatch  of  the  28th  is  not  in  the  Official  Rec- 
ords, but  there  is,  however,  an  answer  from  Sheri- 
dan to  Humphreys  from  Windmill  Point,  June  29, 
1864,  at  8:30  a.  m.,  saying: 

All  my  command  will  be  over  the  river  by  9 :30  a.  m.  to- 
day. I  may  be  detained  here  to-day,  supplying  my  troops 
with  subsistence,  forage,  and  clothing.  "Will  march  to-mor- 
row morning.    Shall  try,  however,  to  move  to-day. 

But  before  the  hour  of  this  telegram  my  advance 
was  in  front  of  Beams  Station,  almost  in  sight  of 
our  lines,  cut  off  from  them  by  a  formidable  force 
of  the  enemy's  cavalry  and  infantry.  From  what 
precedes,  it  is  clear  that,  notwithstanding  three,  if 
not  four,  specific  orders,  the  last  most  imperative 
and  urgent,  to  cross  the  James  and  join  the  army 
on  its  left,  Sheridan,  so  far  as  concerned  any  active 
help  to  the  army  or  to  me,  was  as  completely  out 
of  the  impending  battle  as  if  his  two  powerful  di- 
visions had  no  existence.  At  the  hour  he  was  send- 
ing the  above  dispatch,  at  8 :30  a.  m.,  my  gallant  aid, 
Captain  Whitaker,  was  slashing  his  way  through 
the  rebel  lines  at  Eeams,  bearing  my  message  to 
Meade,  and  at  10:20  a.  m.  he  was  at  Meade's  head- 

10.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  494. 
500 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

quarters,  with  but  eighteen  of  his  men,  bloody,  dirty, 
and  worn  to  a  frazzle,  but  indomitable,  and  burning 
with  a  desire  to  lead  the  infantry  to  my  relief.1  All 
day,  late  into  the  night,  and  all  the  next  day  he  was 
untiring,  but,  through  no  fault  of  his,  neither 
Wright  nor  Gibbon,  nor  anybody  else  came  to  my 
relief.2 

Of  course,  Whitaker's  unexpected  appearance 
made  a  great  stir.  Meade  was  unfortunately  absent 
at  Burnside's  headquarters,  and  it  was  11:45  a.  m. 
before  Humphreys  could  get  Whitaker's  report  to 
him  and  receive  back  his  orders.3  Indeed,  it  was 
not  until  12:45  p.  m.  that  Humphreys  received  his 
final  instructions.  Meanwhile  that  excellent  officer, 
never  idle,  had  informed  Hancock  of  the  Second 
Corps 4  and  Wright  of  the  Sixth,5  and  the  latter, 
pursuant  to  Meade's  orders  at  12:15  p.  m.,  was  in- 
instructed  to  send  a  division  to  Beams  at  once,  and 
to  follow  with  his  whole  corps.  This  was  fine,  but 
all  far  too  late.  Wright  moved  promptly  and  reso- 
lutely, but  did  not  arrive  at  Beams  until  7 :45  p.  m. 
Before  12  a.  m.  he  had  heard  my  guns,6  and  at  1 :10 
p.  m.  he  knew  from  a  corporal  of  my  command  who 
made  his  way  through  the  fight  with  two  prisoners 
that  I  was  up  against  both  infantry  and  cavalry.7 
In  fact,  as  has  been  shown,  I  was  confronted  by  the 
whole  of  Hampton's,  Fitzhugh  Lee's,  and  W.  H.  F. 
Lee's8  cavalry,  supported  by  Anderson's  entire  in- 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  493. 
8  76.,  pp.  492,  507,  508,  526. 

•  lb.,  p.  493. 
4  lb.,  p.  499. 

•  lb.,  pp.  500-506. 
•lb.,  p.  506. 
T7b.,  p.  507. 
•lb.,  p.  517. 

501 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

fantry  division,  composed  of  Finnegan's,  Sanders' 
and  Perry's  brigades,  under  Mahone,  one  of  Lee's 
bravest  fighting  division  commanders.1  The  com- 
bined forces  thus  arrayed  against  my  five  thousand 
live  hundred  worn  and  weary  troopers  were,  accord- 
ing to  the  latest  returns,  cavalry  ten  thousand  four 
hundred  and  ninety-three,  infantry  seven  thousand 
five  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  a  total  of  eighteen  thou- 
sand and  sixty-two  men,  of  whom  it  is  safe  to  say  at 
least  fifteen  thousand  were  in  line  of  battle.2 

But  Sheridan  was  still  absent.  If  Wright's  in- 
fantry had  only  been  cavalry!  Sheridan's  orders, 
three  or  four  times  repeated,  required  him,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  cross  the  James  and  take  position  on 
the  left.  Lee's  orders  to  Hampton,  June  18,  were 
to  follow  Sheridan  and  take  position  on  the  rebel 
right.3  This  should  have  kept  them  in  touch,  the 
movement  of  one  determining  that  of  the  other,  and 
should  have  resulted  in  bringing  them  again  face 
to  face  at  or  near  Reams  Station,  which,  of  course, 
would  have  placed  Sheridan  in  position  by  the  morn- 
ing of  the  29th  to  afford  me  all  the  help  I  needed. 
Such  were  the  plans  for  him,  both  of  Grant  and 
Meade,  and  such  was  Grant's  expectation,  while 
Humphreys '  last  promise  to  me  was  * '  Sheridan  will 
keep  Hampton  occupied."  Both  expectation  and 
promise  were  entirely  reasonable  and  practicable, 
but  both  required  promptitude  and  decision.  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  Sheridan  had  in  fourteen  days, 
June  12  to  25,  marched  only  about  one  hundred 
and  forty  miles  from  Trevillian  by  the  way  of  Spott- 

10.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  pp.  336,  375. 
a  O.  E.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  762. 
•/&.,  p.  667. 

502 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

sylvania  Court  House,  Bowling  Green,  King  and 
Queen  Court  House,  White  House,  and  Charles  City 
to  escape  Hampton,1  it  surely  should  have  been 
1 1  practicable \ '  to  cross  the  James  and  march  less 
than  twenty-five  miles  more  in  five  days  to  find  him 
and  take  him  in  rear  at  Beams  Station  while  I  was 
attacking  him  in  front.  Eeams  is  just  eight  miles 
due  south  of  the  Weldon  Railroad  terminus  in 
Petersburg.  It  is  just  ten  miles  from  Reams  north- 
east to  Prince  George  Court  House  and  just  twelve 
miles  from  there  to  Wind  Mill  Point.  As  the  crow 
flies  it  is  a  shade  over  twenty  miles  from  Wind  Mill 
Point  to  Reams  Station,  and  by  the  winding  roads 
it  is  less  than  twenty-five  miles.  Let  us  now  see 
from  the  Records  just  what  Sheridan  did  under  the 
impulse  of  imminent  peril  and  impending  disaster 
to  me,  and  under  the  stimulus  of  Meade's  peremp- 
tory orders,  given  with  Grant's  full  knowledge  and 
approval. 

On  receipt  of  Whitaker's  startling  report  Meade, 
on  the  29th,  after  expressing  the  hope  that  Sheri- 
dan was  now  en  route  to  Warwick  Swamp,  instructed 
Humphreys  to  hurry  him  up  without  loss  of  time, 
and  to  advise  Wright  of  his  expected  arrival.2 
Humphreys '  orders  were  sufficiently  explicit,  but  he 
caused  them  to  be  repeated  through  General  Ingalls 
at  City  Point.  This  dispatch,  the  fifth  in  order,  and 
all  to  the  same  effect,  was  sent  at  12:55  p.  m.  on 
June  29.    It  contained  the  statement  that: 

.  .  ,  An  officer  had  been  sent  to  meet  Sheridan  on 
the  Prince  George  Court  House  road  and  inform  him  that 
General  Wilson   was  in  the  vicinity  of  Reams   Station, 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  645. 
8  lb.,  p.  494. 

503 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

where  the  enemy's  cavalry  had  concentrated  to  prevent  his 
return.  It  directed  Sheridan  to  move  with  all  the  expedi- 
tion possible  to  Reams  Station  to  relieve  General  Wilson. 

It  also  notified  him  that  General  Wilson  was  un- 
able to  cross  Stony  Creek  last  night,  but  had  "sent 
Kautz  on  a  detour  to  the  left  with  the  trains, ' '  and 
finally  that  Kautz  had  reached  "the  vicinity  of 
Eeams  Station  this  morning  between  seven  and 
eight  o'clock,  and  found  the  enemy  in  force  and 
position  there. ' ' * 

But,  not  content  with  what  he  had  already  or- 
dered his  Chief -of -Staff  to  do  toward  hurrying 
Sheridan,2  Meade,  at  1  p.  m.,  made  the  sixth  distinct 
effort  to  get  him  to  the  front.  This  time  he  de- 
clared: "Wilson  is  engaged  with  the  enemy  at 
Eeams  Station.  .  .  .  Please  hurry  up  to  Wil- 
son's assistance  as  rapidly  as  possible."3 

General  Sheridan  received  this  dispatch  at  2:45 
p.  m.  at  White  House,  near  Wind  Mill  Point4  and 
the  last  of  his  command  crossed  the  James  River 
at  11  a.  m.  5 

It  is  clear  from  the  foregoing  that  Meade  had 
as  early  as  the  28th  directed  Sheridan  definitely  to 
take  position  at  the  crossing  of  the  Warwick  Swamp, 
which,  if  he  had  marched  at  once,  would  have 
brought  him  within  four  miles  of  me,  easily,  by  noon 
of  the  29th,  with  the  enemy  between  us. 

At  last  he  moved,  but  not  until  5  p.  m.,  and  his 
orders  to  Gregg,  commanding  his  Second  division, 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  510,  511. 
'     2I&.,  p.  511. 
8  25.,  p.  511. 
4  76.,  p.  511. 
8 16.,  p.  512. 

504 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

were  not  issued  until  3:45  p.  m.,  an  hour  after  the 
receipt  of  the  above-mentioned  imperative  and  press- 
ing telegrams  and,  while  they  directed  Gregg  to 
move  with  the  utmost  dispatch  to  Prince  George 
Court  House,  they  instructed  him  to  halt  there,  and 
1 'await  the  arrival  of  the  First  Division."  His 
whole  command  was  massed  there  that  evening.1  It 
was  only  ten  miles  further  to  Reams  Station,  but 
he  did  not  arrive  there  or  communicate  with  Wright 
until  after  3 :30  p.  m.  on  June  30.2  Wright,  having 
from  eight  to  ten  miles  to  march  with  his  infantry, 
moving  at  2  p.  m.  of  the  29th,  arrived  within  a  mile 
and  a  half  of  Eeams  at  6  p.  m.,  but,  fully  six  hours 
too  late,  his  advance  did  not  occupy  the  Station  till 
7:35  p.  m.3  Wright,  while  not  an  over-aggressive 
soldier,  was  never  a  laggard,  and,  if  he  had  heard 
the  noise  of  combat,  which  by  that  time  had  faded 
far  away,  he  would  no  doubt  have  hastened  to  lend 
a  hand.  He  sent  Meade  all  the  information  he  was 
able  at  that  hour,  7:35  p.  m.,  to  pick  up  about 
me,  and  it  was  sufficiently  correct  in  substance. 
It  was  in  effect  that  I  was  engaged  with  the  ene- 
my's cavalry  and  apparently  doing  well  until  their 
infantry  came  up  at  four  o'clock  and  attacked 
my  left.4 

The  record  leaves  Sheridan  at  Prince  George,  ten 
miles  away,  on  the  evening  of  the  29th,  where  he 
camped  that  night.  At  what  hour  he  marched  and 
where  he  was  all  day  of  the  30th  and  until  late  in 
the  afternoon  is  not  disclosed.     He  certainly  did 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  512. 
*Ib.,  p.  527. 

3  lb.,  pp.  507-8. 

4  lb.,  p.  508. 

505 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

not  follow  Hampton,  and  Meade  evidently  did  not 
know  where  he  was.  On  the  morning  of  the  30th, 
at  9  a.  m.,  he  telegraphed  Grant  at  City  Point,  send- 
ing a  prisoner's  statement,  "somewhat  confirmed 
by  General  Kautz."  He  feared  "that  Wilson  was 
in  a  very  precarious  position,  and  that  his  command 
was  pretty  much  scattered.' ' 

The  prisoner's  entire  statement  appears  in  the 
record.  It  was  taken  down  and  reported  by  the 
provost  marshal  general  of  our  army,  Colonel 
George  H.  Sharpe,  and  gives  a  sufficiently  distress- 
ing, but  somewhat  overdrawn,  account  of  my  trou- 
bles, and  confirms  in  the  main  the  tally  of  the  forces 
opposed  to  me.  It  adds  one  most  significant  and 
important  item  in  any  proper  comparison  of  the 
relative  condition  of  Sheridan's  horses  and  mine: 
"The  horses  taken  from  Wilson  were  found  to  be 
very  badly  knocked  up. ' ' * 

Then  Grant,  imperturbable  and  optimistic  as 
usual,  took  a  hand.  At  12:30  a.  m.  on  the  30th  he 
replied  to  Meade : 

The  showing  is  against  us  by  Kautz's  dispatch,  but  with 
Wright  at  Reams  Station,  Wilson  south  of  the  enemy,  and 
Sheridan  marching  in  that  direction,  you  have  done  all 
possible,  and  it  will  be  queer  if  the  count  does  not  turn 
in  our  favor.  I  am  very  much  in  hopes  that  the  enemy 
will  be  struck  in  the  rear  most  disagreeably  to  him,  and 
that  his  railroad  in  the  meantime  will  be  destroyed  effect- 
ually as  far  as  our  troops  occupy  the  line  of  it.  I  see 
nothing  you  can  do  beyond  what  you  have  done.  If  the 
enemy  should  follow  Wright  and  Sheridan  with  infantry, 
of  course,  we  will  follow  with  infantry.  All  that  I  see 
beyond  what  you  have  already  done  is  to  follow  up  the 
1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  517. 
506 


BREAKING  LEE'S  COMMUNICATIONS 

same  principle  you  have  started  upon — follow  up  the  force 
of  the  enemy  with  a  larger  one.1 

This  was  all  sound,  thorough,  and  admirable,  but 
belated.  If  only  its  execution  had  been  equal,  or 
if,  happily,  Grant,  under  a  less  cumbersome  organi- 
zation, could  have  kept  himself  in  closer' touch  with 
or  personally  superintended  the  operations.  Even 
if  it  was  all  too  late  to  be  of  any  great  help  to  me, 
there  was  a  splendid  chance  all  that  day  and  during 
July  1  to  clean  up  Hampton  and  to  turn  the  count 
"in  our  favor."  Meanwhile,  I  was  helping  myself 
fairly  well. 

But  Sheridan  did  not  reach  Eeams  Station  un- 
til almost  seven  o'clock  of  June  30,  after  the 
enemy's  infantry  had  returned  to  Petersburg,  "leav- 
ing the  pursuit  of  Wilson  to  Hampton's  cavalry."2 

Both  Hancock  and  Wright  were  vigilant  and  ac- 
tive, but  with  slow  moving  infantry  they  could  not 
hope  to  come  up  with  the  enemy  in  time.3  They 
received  no  tidings  from  Sheridan  or  Kautz.4 

At  12:30  p.  m.  on  June  30  the  faithful  Whit- 
aker,  who  was  out  in  charge  of  Wright's  cavalry 
scouts,  sent  word  to  Humphreys  that  two  hundred 
empty  wagons,  "guarded  by  North  Carolina  infan- 
try, eight  men  to  a  wagon,  with  front  and  rear 
guards,  had  passed  south,  going  from  Petersburg 
to  Stony  Creek  for  forage." 5  At  3 :30  p.  m.  the  same 
day  Wright  telegraphed  Humphreys  that,  as  Sheri- 
dan was  at  the  junction  of  Warwick  Swamp  and  the 

'O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  518. 

a  lb.,  p.  518. 

•Tb.,  p.  520. 

*/&.,  pp.  521-2,  525-6. 

0  O.  R.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  526. 

507 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Jerusalem  road,  about  seven  miles  in  rear,  where 
he  would  remain,  he  (Wright)  would  withdraw  at 
once  "in  order  to  get  over  the  intricate  part  of  the 
road  before  dark."  1 

Then  followed  Wright's  justification  of  his  retro- 
grade march,  for  which  there  was  no  real  occasion, 
but  which  he  had  evidently  been  asked  to  explain.2 
That  night,  however,  he  received  explicit  orders  to 
remain  in  the  field  to  support  Sheridan.  At  12:30 
p.  m.  on  June  30  Humphreys  was  advised  that 
"General  Merritt's  advance  guard  had  just  reached 
the  plank  road,  about  six  miles  from  army  headquar- 
ters." 3  This  was  Sheridan's  leading  division,  which, 
after  a  march  of  six  or  seven  miles  in  twenty  hours, 
brings  him  again  into  the  light. 

At  3 :25  p.  m.  on  the  30th  he  notified  Humphreys 
that  he  had  "reached  the  plank  road  one  mile  and 
a  half  in  advance  of  Warwick  Swamp,  and  was  push- 
ing on  to  Eeams  Station,  distant  three  or  four 
miles ;  that  he  could  learn  nothing  of  General  Wil- 
son 's  command  except  from'  stragglers  coming  in, 
all  giving  different  accounts.  Parties  coming  up 
the  plank  road  report  the  enemy's  pickets  on  that 
flank,  but  some  distance  off.  One  of  your  staff  offi- 
cers reports  a  rebel  cavalry  force  having  crossed 
the  plank  road  on  my  left  and  going  toward  my 
rear. ' ' 4 

On  June  30  at  9  p.  m.  Meade  directed  him  to 
move  with  his  whole  command  in  pursuit  of  the 
enemy,  who  was  reported  to  have  followed  General 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  527. 
2J&.,  pp.  527-8. 
8  lb.,  p.  530. 
4  lb.,  p.  530. 

508 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

Wilson.  After  ascertaining  definitely  where  Gen- 
eral Wilson  had  gone  he  was  to  make  every  effort 
in  his  power  to  form  a  junction  and  return  with 
him  to  the  army.  Meanwhile  Wright  was  to  remain 
where  he  was  and  give  Sheridan  such  support  as 
might  be  necessary.  Finally  he  was  ordered  to  keep 
the  commanding  general  advised  as  often  as  pos- 
sible of  his  operations.1  These  orders  were  right 
and  not  only  covered  the  case,  but  offered  Sheridan 
a  fine  chance  to  wipe  out  Hampton  or  to  drive  him 
to  the  interior  of  south  Virginia. 

The  Lieutenant  General,  true  to  his  duty,  had 
also  the  same  morning  telegraphed  General  Butler 
to  "send  Kautz  back  to  our  left  to  report  to  Sheri- 
dan as  soon  as  possible.  It  will  take  all  our  cav- 
alry to  extricate  Wilson  from  his  present  perilous 
position."  2 

Thus,  as  we  see,  pursuant  to  Grant's  plan  "to 
follow  up  the  force  of  the  enemy  with  a  larger  one, ' ' 
Meade  sought  to  execute  it  by  setting  into  the  field 
in  vigorous  pursuit  of  the  enemy  the  combined 
forces  of  Sheridan  and  Kautz — all  the  available  cav- 
alry, supported  by  Wright  and  the  entire  Sixth 
Corps — a  force  ample  not  only  to  relieve  me  but 
to  turn  the  count  in  our  favor  by  wiping  Hampton 
and  Mahone  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  was 
one  of  those  opportunities  which  knock  rarely  at  our 
doors,  and  which  the  best  of  us — even  a  great  soldier 
— sometimes  miss.  Hampton's  return  after  I  had 
successfully  eluded  his  pursuit  might  surely  have 
been  cut  off  and  in  the  tired  condition  of  his  men 
and  with  his  worn-out  horses  his  force  brought  to 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  531. 

2  lb.,  p.  531. 

509 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

bay  and  severely  punished,  if  lie  had  not  been 
smashed  up  entirely.  Even  the  two  hundred  wagons 
with  their  heavy  infantry  escort  reported  by  Whit- 
aker  would  have  been  an  excellent  objective  and  an 
ample  reward  for  the  effort  necessary  to  their  cap- 
ture.1 

But  what  came  of  it  all  f  Absolutely  nothing,  for 
the  reason  that  both  Sheridan  and  Kautz  failed  to 
execute  the  orders  that  were  given  to  them. 

Kautz  simply  lay  down  and  quit.  On  receipt  of 
the  stirring  orders  from  Grant  direct,2  as  well  as 
from  Meade3  and  Butler,4  he  went  to  Meade  and 
begged  off.  Forgetting  that  the  rest  of  us  were 
marching  and  fighting  for  our  lives,  he  put  up  the 
unsoldierly  plea  that  his  command  was  in  no  con- 
dition to  do  anything,  and  that  the  main  cause  of 
our  rout  was  the  worn-out  condition  of  the  men; 
that  his  men  and  horses  had  had  nothing  to  eat  for 
forty-eight  hours;  and  that  they  were  exhausted 
from  loss  of  sleep.  On  this  plea  he  hoped  the  order 
would  be  rescinded.5 

Both  his  men  and  horses,  while  they  had  marched 
step  for  step  with  the  rest  homeward  from  Eoanoke 
Bridge,  had  plenty  both  of  provisions  and  forage. 
All  lived  largely  on  the  country,  it  is  true,  but  that 
country  had  not  been  foraged  before  and  was  by  no 
means  bare  of  supplies.  At  most,  it  was  only  the 
last  twenty  hours  that  had  been  especially  exhaust- 
ing, but  when  ordered  to  turn  back  and  join  Sheri- 
dan Kautz  had  already  had  more  than  fourteen 

1 0.  B.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  500,  526. 
aIb.,  p.  540. 
9  lb.,  p.  513. 
*Ib.,  pp.  531,  537. 
*  lb.,  p.  540. 

510 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

hours '  quiet  sleep  in  the  midst  of  our  army  and  its 
abundance,  while  the  rest  of  us,  on  his  own  showing, 
were  still  marching  and  fighting  for  our  existence. 
Looking  back  after  nearly  fifty  years,  in  the  light 
of  the  printed  record  and  the  cold  facts  which  I  had 
never  inquired  into  before,  it  all  seems  weak  and 
contemptible  in  the  last  degree.  Kautz,  undoubt- 
edly, rendered  good  service  during  the  expedition 
and  behaved  with  satisfactory  efficiency  down  to  the 
crucial  moment  in  the  afternoon  of  the  29th,  when 
the  need  was  greatest  that  every  man  should  hang 
on  to  the  last,  "one  for  all  and  all  for  one.,,1 

Fortunately,  he  had  sense  enough  to  direct  him- 
self toward  Prince  George  Court  House  and  our 
army,  which  he  easily  succeeded  in  joining,  but  just 
when  or  where  his  dispatch  to  Meade  announcing 
his  return  does  not  state.  He  at  first  sent  me  word 
that  he  would  follow  my  route,  but  finally  drifted 
off  on  one  of  his  own.  Many  of  his  wounded  and 
far  more  relatively  of  his  command  than  he  had  of 
mine  joined  my  column  and  followed  it  in  safety  to 
our  lines,  where  in  due  time  they  were  turned  over 
to  him.2  But  it  is  perhaps  enough  to  say  that 
Kautz  was  a  typical  infantryman  and  never  a  suc- 
cess as  a  cavalry  commander.  It  was  a  misfortune 
much  more  serious  for  the  army  than  for  himself. 

Sheridan  was  a  brilliant  soldier,  perhaps  the 
most  brilliant,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most  aggres- 
sive and  successful  on  either  side.  But,  strangely 
enough,  his  greatest  successes  were  not  won  as  a 
leader  of  cavalry  alone,  but  with  mixed  commands, 
as  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  and  in  the  culminating 

1  Compare  O.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  624,  with  p.  629. 

2  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  580-2. 

511 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

campaign  with  Grant  south  of  Richmond  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  in  which  with  his  united  cavalry 
and  the  infantry  of  Warren  and  Wright  he  ren- 
dered heroic  and  decisive  service.  A  great,  well-de- 
served and  lasting  fame  such  as  his,  resting  as  it 
does  on  so  firm  a  foundation,  requires  no  suppres- 
sion of  the  truth,  especially  when  it  demands  that 
the  whole  truth  should  he  told  to  others. 

The  truth  is  that  Sheridan  failed  just  as  flatly 
and  far  more  unpardonably  than  Kautz,  and  instead 
of  obeying  promptly  and  cheerfully  Meade's  orders, 
directing  him  to  march  with  his  whole  command 
to  my  relief,  gave  reasons  which  were  shown  by 
both  Grant's  Quartermaster  and  his  own  to  be  un- 
founded. 

In  a  telegram  of  July  1,  1864,  at  8  a.  m.,  Sheri- 
dan said  in  reply  to  the  order  instructing  him  to 
follow  in  the  direction  my  command  had  gone : 

I  will  move  in  the  morning,  but  it  will  be  at  the  risk 
of  dismounting  my  command.  I  marched  from  the  river 
without  forage  and  without  preparation.  My  horses  are 
worn  out.  Some  of  them  have  been  without  forage  for 
forty-eight  hours.  I  am  satisfied  General  Wilson  cannot 
keep  any  considerable  body  of  his  command  together.  I 
thought  it  best  to  keep  open  the  roads  leading  to  the  south, 
so  that  small  parties  can  come  in,  as  they  are  now  doing.1 

To  this  excuse  for  not  even  trying,  Humphreys 
promptly  and  curtly  replied  on  July  1  at  5  p.  m.  : 

.  .  .  The  commanding  general  instructs  me  to  say 
that  whenever  you  can  ascertain  anything  definite  of  either 
General  Wilson  or  the  enemy,  and  be  satisfied  from  actual 
trial  that  no  material  aid  can  be  rendered  General  Wilson 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  573. 
512 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

or  injury  inflicted  on  the  enemy,  you  can  desist  and  re- 
turn to  the  position  assigned  you  on  the  left  flank  of  the 
army.1 

Even  after  that  Sheridan  adhered  to  his  opinion 
and  did  not  move  until  6:25  a.  m.  of  July  1,  and 
then  only  to  concentrate  his  command  on  the  Jeru- 
salem plank  road,  from  whence  during  the  day  he 
was  content  to  send  one  division  south  on  that  road, 
two  regiments  of  which  reached  Freeman's  Bridge 
over  the  Nottoway  and  one  Stony  Creek,  neither 
of  which  were  more  than  ten  miles  from  his  camp, 
where  he  remained  all  day.  At  3  p.  m.  he  sent  a 
hard  luck  story  to  Humphreys  based  on  what  some 
straggling  officers  had  told  him  that  I  had  been 
completely  routed  and  that  my  command  was  re- 
duced to  the  remnant  of  Mcintosh's  brigade  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  men  of  Chapman 's.2  His  ad- 
vance went  near  enough  to  Jarratt's  Station,  where 
I  had  crossed  two  days  before  to  find  it  occupied 
by  Hampton's  troopers.  In  other  words,  he  was 
at  last  in  easy  reach  of  his  old  antagonist,  whom  I 
had  stood  off  and  eluded  late  in  the  evening  of  the 
29th,  but  for  reasons  never  given  Sheridan  failed  to 
attack  him. 

Later  in  the  day,  but  at  what  hour  does  not  ap- 
pear, Sheridan  sent  another  report  to  Humphreys, 
this  time  on  negro  information,  "that  our  cavalry, 
seven  thousand,  encamped  on  Mr.  WesselPs  farm, 
near  Littleton,  last  night.  This  report  has  come  to 
me  from  two  or  three  sources,  and  unless  troops 
have  come  up  from  Suffolk  it  must  be  General  Wil- 
son," and  happily  it  was.    He  further  stated: 

1  O.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  574. 

2  lb.,  pp.  574-5. 

513 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

.  .  .  Men  have  been  coming  in  all  day  in  small 
squads,  but  none  from  General  Wilson  after  Wednesday 
evening.  Scouting  parties  report  his  having  crossed  the 
Nottoway,  but  I  have  all  kinds  of  reports,  and  am  afraid 
that,  after  he  fell  back  from  Reams  Station,  he  was  badly 
broken  up.1 

As  the  record  shows,  he  did  have  "all  kinds  of 
reports,' '  precisely  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  men  who  did  not  stay  to  learn  the 
exact  truth,  but  left  early  in  the  fight,  and,  naturally 
enough,  lied  in  self-justification.  Doubtless  he  was 
so  impressed  by  these  reports  that  he  did  not 
think  it  worth  while  to  march  in  my  direction 
as  ordered,  with  his  whole  command,  and  thus 
missed  an  opportunity  such  as  Hampton  rarely  of- 
fered him. 

That  Meade  was  impatient  with  Sheridan  and 
did  not  accept  his  excuses  is  clear  from  the  fact  that 
he  ordered  an  investigation.  At  9  a.  m.  on  July  1 
he  telegraphed  Grant: 

I  cannot  understand  how  General  Sheridan  at  Wind 
Mill  Point  could  be  forty-eight  hours  without  forage,  and 
have  directed  an  investigation  to  ascertain  upon  whom  the 
responsibility  rests.  As  to  the  fatigue  of  his  animals,  I 
presume  the  enemy  cannot  be  in  much  better  condition, 
and  Hampton  must  have  made  a  forced  march  from  the 
White  House  via  Richmond.2 

Meade  followed  this  by  sending  Ingalls  an  ex- 
tract from  Sheridan's  report  claiming  that  he  had 
marched  from  the  river  without  forage  and  without 
preparation,  that  his  horses  were  worn  out,  and  that 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  574. 

2  /&.,  p.  560. 

514 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

some  of  them  had  been  without  forage  for  forty- 
eight  hours.1 

As  Ingalls>  reply  of  July  21  is  important  and 
conclusive,  it  is  here  given  entire : 

Your  dispatch  .  .  .  conveys  the  first  information 
that  Sheridan's  command  had  not  plenty  of  forage.  On 
his  arrival  at  Douthat's  I  visited  his  headquarters  to  ascer- 
tain his  wants.  His  Chief  Quartermaster  reported  two 
days'  [supplies]  on  hand  then.  He  was  told  that  there  was 
an  abundance  .  .  .  which  could  be  delivered  at  any 
point  on  the  river.  I  suspect  General  Sheridan  means  to 
convey  the  idea  that  his  orders  and  the  emergency  of  the 
case  compelled  him  to  leave  hurriedly  [and]  without  having 
time  to  make  necessary  preparations.  He  had  but  just 
crossed  over  his  command.  There  was  no  good  reason  why 
he  had  not  sufficient  forage  so  far  as  the  Quartermaster's 
Department  was  concerned.2 

After  further  investigation  Ingalls  reported  on 
July  1,  on  the  authority  of  Sheridan's  Chief  Quar- 
termaster : 

.  .  .  That  there  was  an  abundance  of  hay  and  grain 
at  Wind  Mill  Point  when  the  cavalry  left  that  place,  but 
that  the  movement  was  so  hurried  it  was  not  taken;  that 
one  division  did  leave  with  two  days',  but  the  other  none. 
I  can  discover  no  failure  or  neglect  in  my  department. 
Colonel  Howard  has  a  train  now  ready  to  start  for  Sheri- 
dan's command  with  two  days'  forage  and  three  of  sub- 
sistence.   He  has  just  learned  where  to  send  the  train.3 

These  dispatches  tell  the  whole  story,  and,  when 
it  is  remembered  that  Sheridan  had  ten  days7  rest 
from   June   20   to    29,   inclusive,    amid   the   abun- 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  562. 
-lb.,  p.  563. 
•76.,  p.  563. 

515 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

dance  of  White  House,1  Douthat's  Landing,  and 
City  Point,  and  that  when  he  sent  his  dispatch  of 
2  a.  m.,  July  1,  to  Meade  he  had  been  out  from 
Wind  Mill  Point  only  about  twenty-four  hours,  in 
which  time  he  had  marched  less  than  twenty  miles 
and  with  two  days'  supply  for  one  of  his  divisions, 
which  was  ample  for  his  whole  command  for  one 
day,  the  case  becomes  still  more  difficult  to  under- 
stand. As  to  tired  horses,  Meade's  comments  on 
the  inevitable  condition  of  Hampton's  is  all  the  com- 
ment that  need  be  made.  It  will  not  be  forgotten, 
however,  that  my  command  had  just  finished  a  cir- 
cuitous march  of  about  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  miles  in  ten  days,  during  the  most  of  which 
Sheridan  was  resting  quietly  in  the  midst  of  abun- 
dance. 

Meanwhile,  as  already  shown,  Hampton's  com- 
mand, although  his  horses  were  tired  and  worn,  had 
managed  to  march  by  a  similar  route  against  Sheri- 
dan's shorter  line,  to  fight  and  shut  me  out  on  my 
return.  Or,  as  Grant  tersely  put  it,  in  his  dispatch 
to  Halleck  on  July  1 : 

The  enemy's  cavalry,  finding  that  Sheridan  was  secure 
where  he  was  crossing  the  James  River,  left  him  and  inter- 
posed themselves  on  the  Weldon  Railroad  between  Wilson 
and  his  return.2 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  after  two  months  of 
hard  campaigning  both  men  and  horses  were  tired 
and  run  down  and  needed  rest,  but  there  is  no  es- 
cape from  the  conclusion  that  as  between  Sheridan, 
Hampton  and  myself,  Sheridan's  mounts  were  al- 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  14. 
aO.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  557. 

516 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

together  the  best  fed,  best  rested,  and  most  capable 
of  the  lot.  In  reaching  this  conclusion  I  do  not  ig- 
nore the  strenuous  battle  at  Trevillian,  in  which 
Hampton  claims  that  he  defeated  Sheridan  "with 
heavy  loss,,,  and  forced  him  to  retreat  "in  con- 
fusion. ' 9  *  Nor  do  I  forget  that  Hampton  fought 
Gregg  on  the  24th  at  Nance's  Shop  and  claimed 
"after  a  stubborn  fight  to  have  routed  them  com- 
pletely.,,2  Hampton  made  substantially  the  same 
claim  to  Lee  in  my  case,  both  as  to  Stony  Creek 
on  the  28th  and  Beams  on  the  29th.3  The  fine  old 
fighter  was  evidently  claiming  everything  in  sight, 
and,  as  the  Confederate  combinations  were  better 
than  ours,  I  freely  confess,  he  had  a  good  deal  of 
substantial  success  to  his  credit.  Why  Sheridan 
should  have  ignored  all  this  and  claimed  a  victory 
in  his  own  campaign,  while  he  designated  mine  as 
a  "disaster"  and  "defeat,"  and  declared  that  my 
command  was  "all  broken  up  and  dispersed,"  it 
is  difficult  to  understand.  It  evidently,  in  most 
cases,  depends  on  the  point  of  view  of  the  person 
writing  the  report  or  telling  the  story.  In  any 
event,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  I  was  not  idle,  and 
from  the  22nd  to  the  25th  was  marching,  fighting, 
and  standing  off  W.  H.  F.  Lee's  division,  as  well 
as  the  infantry  and  home  guards  at  Staunton  River, 
with  one  hand,  while  tearing  up  railroads,  burning 
and  destroying  the  main  lines  of  supply  and  the 
vital  resources  of  the  Confederacy  with  the  other. 
From  June  25  to  the  morning  of  July  1,  while 
others  were  resting  by  the  wayside,  my  command 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  645. 
«!&.,  p.  688. 
•76.,  p.  72. 

517 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

was  marching  forty  miles  a  day  and  fighting  day 
and  night  to  extricate  itself  from  the  toils  of  the 
enemy,  during  which  it  was,  according  to  all  rule, 
Sheridan  's  special  and  particular  duty  with  or  with- 
out orders  to  follow  Hampton  wherever  he  went. 

Surely  it  cannot  be  imagined  that  Sheridan  had 
had  enough  of  Hampton,  or  that  he  wanted  to  be 
"counted  out"  of  another  "free  fight"  with  his  old 
antagonist. 

In  sharp  contrast  with  Sheridan's  readiness  to 
believe  the  worst  is  the  declaration  of  the  Lieuten- 
ant General  '  '■  that  the  work  done  by  Wilson  and  his 
cavalry  is  of  great  importance,  * '  *  and  ' '  more  than 
compensated  for  the  loss  we  sustained."  2 

Dana  reported  July  1  to  the  same  effect : 

.  .  .  This  raid  seems  to  have  surpassed  all  others 
except  Hunter's  in  the  damage  inflicted  on  the  enemy.3 

Neither  were  Meade  nor  Humphreys  ready  to 
give  up  in  despair.  Both  insisted  to  the  last  that 
Sheridan  should  go  to  my  assistance,  and  they,  as 
well  as  Burnside,  expressed  their  gratification  at  my 
return.4 

But  while  Sheridan  admits  in  his  "Memoirs" 
that  the  Weldon  Eailroad  near  Reams  Station  was 
not  covered  by  our  infantry,  as  General  Humphreys 
informed  Wilson  it  would  be,  he  strenuously  denies 
that  his  orders  required  him  to  look  after  or  to  re- 
tain Hampton.  On  the  contrary,  he  claimed  that 
his  instructions  required  him  to  break  up  the  depot 
at  White  House  and  then  bring  the  train  across  the 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  560. 

20.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  516  and  578;  also  No.  80,  p.  28. 
"See  Dana's  reports,  O.  R.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  30  et  seq. 
40.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  pp.  509,  572. 

518 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

peninsula  as  soon  as  practicable ;  that  these  instruc- 
tions were  never  modified;  and  that  he  began  the 
duty  thus  imposed  on  him  on  the  morning  of  the 
23rd,  totally  in  the  dark  as  to  "what  was  expected 
of  Wilson,' '  and  yet  he  admits  from  some  corre- 
spondence between  Generals  Grant  and  Meade, 
which  he  never  saw  till  after  the  war,  that  Grant 
thought  Wilson  could  rely  on  Hampton's  absence 
from  the  field  of  operations  throughout  the  ex- 
pedition. 

But  how  under  the  pressing  orders,  sent  by  spe- 
cial messenger  on  June  27  and  urgently  repeated 
on  the  28th  and  29th,  Sheridan  could  say  he  never 
knew  "till  after  the  war"  what  was  expected  is 
difficult  to  understand.  To  deny  that  it  was  his 
clear  duty  to  go  to  Wilson's  assistance  as  soon  as 
he  knew  that  Hampton  had  withdrawn  from  his 
front  is  to  deny  that  Grant  and  Meade  knew  the 
meaning  of  the  English  language.  Clearly,  he 
should  have  left  his  train  under  the  guns  of  the 
navy  and  crossed  his  troops  without  delay  to  the 
south  side  of  the  James.1  Not  to  do  so  was  to  vio- 
late the  plainest  rules  of  scientific  warfare,  as  well 
as  to  act  contrary  to  his  own  most  earnest  convic- 
tions that  about  the  worst  use  that  could  be  made 
of  cavalry  was  guarding  wagon  trains.  Moreover, 
he  falls  into  two  specific  errors  as  to  dates,  both 
bearing  on  his  ability  to  reach  Reams  in  time  to  be 
of  service  to  me.  He  moved  from  the  White  House 
on  June  22,  and  not  June  23,  as  he  states,  and 
Kautz  did  not  rejoin  the  army  June  28,  but  late 
in  the  night  of  June  29.  Under  such  circumstances 
a  whole  day,  or  even  four  or  five  hours,  earlier  for 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  71,  p.  559. 
519 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

either  Wright  or  Sheridan  might  have  made  all  the 
difference  between  disaster  and  the  crowning  suc- 
cess of  my  expedition. 

Strategically  considered,  Sheridan's  admission 
as  to  Humphreys'  promise  that  our  infantry  should 
hold  across  the  Weldon  Railroad  is  relatively  unim- 
portant in  comparison  with  the  Cavalry  Corps' 
presence  on  the  left  flank  of  our  army,  in  position 
to  engage  Hampton,  or  to  follow  him  wherever  he 
might  go.  Wright,  while  waiting  for  other  infantry 
to  take  its  stand  in  front  of  the  enemy,  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  reaching  Reams  and  holding  his  position 
across  the  road  within  five  or  six  hours  from  the  re- 
ceipt of  his  orders.  Nor  would  Sheridan  have  had 
if  he  had,  even  with  his  late  start,  marched  as 
rapidly  as  cavalry  should  have  done  to  the  crossing 
of  the  Jerusalem  plank  road  and  Warwick  Swamp. 

His  next  statement  that  the  moment  he  received 
orders  to  go  to  the  relief  of  Wilson  he  "hastened 
with  Torbert  and  Gregg  by  way  of  Prince  George 
Court  House  and  Lee's  Mills  to  Reams  Station" 
is  not  in  accordance  with  the  Records.1  That  a 
great  soldier  like  Sheridan,  in  face  of  his  orders  on 
June  20  and  subsequent  dates,  especially  the  26th, 
27th,  and  28th,  could  indite,  even  after  the  lapse, 
of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  such  a  paragraph  as  that 
above  shows  that  his  memory  must  have  failed  or 
that  he  wrote  carelessly  to  say  the  least.  If  the  or- 
ders he  received  at  2 :45  p.  m.  of  the  29th,  to  march 
"with  all  the  expedition  possible,"  and  "as  rapidly 
as  possible,"  authorized  him  to  delay  until  5  p.  m. 
and  then  to  march  only  twelve  of  the  twenty  miles 
between  him  and  Hampton,  then  the  word  "hasten" 

1 " Sheridan 's  Memoirs,"  p.  244. 
520 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

has  surely  lost  its  meaning  for  cavalry.  If  to  take 
twenty  hours  more  to  cover  the  remaining  ten  miles 
between  Prince  George  Court  House  and  Beams 
Station  is  the  best  cavalry  could  do,  then  it  has  no 
advantage  over  the  infantry.  Napoleon's  phrase 
about  Grouchy 's  "s'amuse  a  Gembloux"  alone  fitly 
describes  such  slowness  at  such  a  juncture. 

But  further  on  Sheridan,  writing  as  my  corps 
commander,  does  me  the  justice  to  say  that  my 
retreat  from  the  perilous  situation  at  Beams  Sta- 
tion in  the  face  of  two  brigades  of  infantry  and 
three  divisions  of  cavalry  was  a  most  creditable 
performance.  Then,  as  though  the  praise  was  too 
great,  he  criticizes  me  for  relying  too  much  on  meet- 
ing our  infantry  and  for  not  marching  on  the  28th 
by  Jarratt's  Station  to  Peter's  Bridge,  on  the  Not- 
toway, and  to  Blunt 's  Bridge,  on  the  Blackwater, 
to  the  rear  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  instead  of 
to  Beams  Station. 

To  all  this  the  sure  and  unanswerable  reply  is 
that  in  Sheridan's  absence  with  his  two  splendid 
divisions  no  route  was  open  for  my  return  and  none 
across  which  I  might  not  have  found  Hampton's 
entire  cavalry,  supported  by  Mahone's  infantry, 
within  easy  reach.  Obviously,  if  I  had  not  met 
Hampton  at  Stony  Creek  and  Beams  Station,  I 
should  certainly  have  found  him  at  Jarratt's  Sta- 
tion or  at  Peter's  Bridge,  on  the  Nottoway,  or  at 
Blunt 's,  on  the  Blackwater.  At  any  of  these  places, 
as  well  as  at  Beams,  his  far  heavier  weight  would 
inevitably  have  occupied  me  until  his  infantry  had 
joined,  in  which  event  my  last  fate  would  have  been 
far  worse  than  my  first. 

It  is  pleasant  to  add  that  in  his  final  report  at 
521 


UNDER  THE   OLD  FLAG 

the  close  of  the  war  General  Grant  did  not,  like 
Sheridan,  measure  my  services  in  terms  of  doubt- 
ful equivalents,  but  tersely  declared  that  "the  dam- 
ages to  the  enemy  in  this  expedition  more  than  com- 
pensated for  the  losses  we  sustained.  It  severed 
all  connection  by  railroad  with  Eichmond  [and 
Petersburg]  for  several  weeks. ' ' 1 

Here,  with  the  count  decisively  in  my  favor,  I 
might  well  leave  it,  but  perhaps,  after  all,  the  most 
conclusive  evidence  of  the  greatly  preponderating 
value  of  the  expedition  to  us,  in  its  results  weighed 
against  our  losses,  will  be  found  upon  a  brief  glance 
at  the  Confederates'  side  of  the  case. 

The  Richmond  Examiner  of  July  5,  1864,  imme- 
diately after  my  return,  urged  that  no  prisoners 
should  thereafter  be  taken  from  raiding  parties.2 
The  Richmond  Examiner  of  the  7th  and  8th  were 
full  of  fury  over  Wilson's  Said;3  and,  judging  the 
hurt  to  the  enemy  by  the  bitterness  of  his  outcry, 
his  wounds,  if  not  mortal,  were  painful,  indeed,  and 
their  effects  continued  to  be  felt  till  the  close  of 
the  war. 

The  Southern  newspaper  phase  is  fully  covered 
by  the  above  extract  and  by  the  results  of  special 
inquiry  made  by  General  Meade  in  reference  to  an 
editorial  of  the  Examiner  of  July  2,  to  which  he 
called  my  special  attention.  The  curious  reader  will 
find  that  subject  in  Meade's  letter  transmitting  the 
Examiner  to  me  and  in  the  reply  of  my  subordinate 
and  myself  thereto.4  But  altogether  the  most 
weighty  and  conclusive  testimony  as  to  the  deadly 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  95,  p.  25.  a  O.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  35. 

■  0.  E.  Serial  No.  80,  p.  37. 

«0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  632;  No.  82,  pp.  15-18;  No.  68,  p.  113. 

522 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

nature  of  the  blow  is  to  be  found  in  General  Lee's 
correspondence  with  the  Confederate  Secretary  of 
War,  June  21,  1864.  .  .  .  "It  is  of  the  last  im- 
portance, then,  that  the  Danville,  Piedmont,  and 
Southside  roads  be  well  stock  .  .  .  and  guarded 
as  effectively  as  possible  against  raiding  parties  of 
the  enemy. ' ' *  Again,  Lee,  writing  to  Seddon,  June 
26,  at  the  very  time  I  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
operations  against  the  Danville  roads,  and,  refer- 
ring to  the  necessity  for  its  repair  at  once  and  to 
its  operation  to  its  full  capacity,  concluded:  "But 
if  this  cannot  be  done,  I  see  no  way  of  averting  the 
terrible  disaster  that  will  result. f ' 2 

As  the  concurrent  evidence  of  the  damage  done 
at  the  time  shows  that  the  railroad  was  put  com- 
pletely out  of  operation  "for  several  weeks,' 9  it  may 
readily  be  inferred  from  Lee's  language  that  the 
blow  was  most  effectual,  if  not  fatal,  in  its  results. 
Great  additional  importance  is  given  to  the  subject 
by  the  further  urgent  appeals  made  by  Lee  to  the 
Confederate  Secretary  of  War,  to  stimulate  in  every 
possible  way  "the  utmost  exertion  in  repairing  the 
Danville  Kailroad,"  and  to  that  end  to  advise  the 
robbing  of  other  railroads  "by  removing  the  rails 
from  those  railroads  not  of  prime  necessity."  This 
correspondence  further  discloses  a  peculiar  interest 
and  care  for  this  particular  line,  inasmuch  as  it 
directed  that  when  the  repairs  were  completed,  the 
fact  should  not  be  made  known  to  the  enemy  and 
that  the  newspaper  publishers  "should  abstain 
from  any  reference  to  it,  even  by  implication. ' ' 3 

10.  R.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  671. 
"!&.,  p.  690. 
»/&.,  pp.  696,  697. 

523 


UNDER  THE   OLD   FLAG 

Seddon's  replies  are  also  interesting.  On  June 
29  he  wrote  Lee  two  letters,  in  one  of  which  he 
referred  to  a  letter  of  the  28th  instant,  "relative 
to  the  necessity  of  obtaining  a  supply  of  railroad 
iron,"  and  said:  "I  agree  with  you  as  to  the  only 
mode  of  accomplishing  it  and  have  already  taken 
active  measures  to  remove  the  iron  from  the  less 
important  roads.  I  shall  have  to  encounter  injunc- 
tions and  vexatious  litigations,  but  the  necessity, 
in  my  judgment  is  too  imperative  to  allow  hesita- 
tion in  disregarding  such  proceedings  so  far  as  they 
would  prevent  immediate  command  of  iron. ' ' 1 

In  spite  of  this  imperative  use  of  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  Confederacy  available  at  Richmond 
and  vicinity  for  the  repairs  of  the  Danville  Eailroad, 
it  remained  out  of  commission  certainly  as  late  as 
July  31.2  At  least  ten  miles  of  it  south  of  Meherrin 
Station  had  not  then  been  repaired.3  How  much 
longer  it  was  lost  to  the  Confederacy  and  how  bit- 
terly the  deprivation  was  felt  is  not  altogether  a 
matter  of  conjecture.  John  Tyler,  a  son  or  near 
relative  of  a  former  president  of  the  United  States, 
writing  from  Richmond  to  General  Sterling  Price, 
July  9,  1864,  acknowledging  the  damage  done  both 
by  Sheridan's  raid  and  mine,  bears  unwilling  wit- 
ness to  the  thoroughness  with  which  Wilson  and 
Kautz  *  *  succeeded  in  cutting  all  our  communications 
with  the  provisioning  states  of  Georgia  and  Ala- 
bama,' '  which  brought  the  Confederate  people  to 
"actual  want   and  starvation,' '  from  which  "the 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  701 ;  No.  82,  p.  754. 
"Read  in  this  connection  Lee,  Davis  and  Seddon,  O.  R.  Serial 
No.  88,  p.  1194. 

80.  R.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  692. 

524 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

army  itself  cannot  altogether  escape.' '  This  the 
writer  feared  "more  than  the  muskets  and  cannon 
of  the  enemy.  Onr  situation  in  Georgia  under 
Johnston  is  similar  to  that  here,  but  he  is  nearer 
provisions  and  is  in  less  danger  of  starvation.  Flour 
here  is  now  commanding  in  market  $400  per  barrel 
and  everything  else  in  proportion.  Many  in  and  out 
of  Eichmond  must  starve  to  death  this  coming 
winter. ' ' 1 

Perhaps  the  grimmest  evidence  that  ' '  starvation 
— literal  starvation — was  doing  its  deadly  work"  in 
breaking  down  the  Confederacy  is  found  in  the 
"Beminiscences  of  General  John  B.  Gordon.' '  That 
sturdy  and  determined  fighter,  whom  no  one  will 
accuse  of  weakness  or  exaggeration,  frankly  de- 
clares that  many  of  Lee's  men  were  so  weakened 
and  poisoned  by  unsound  and  insufficient  food  that 
wounds  which  would  have  hardly  been  reported  at 
the  beginning  of  the  war  afterward  often  caused 
blood  poisoning  and  death.  In  illustration  he  told 
how  a  man  made  sick  at  night  by  eating  parched 
corn  would  call  out  the  next  morning:  w Hello,  Gen- 
eral, I'm  all  right  now,  and  if  you  will  have  the 
commissary  issue  me  a  good  mess  of  minced  hay 
for  breakfast,  I'll  be  ready  for  the  next  fight." 
Quoting  one  of  the  surgeons,  he  declared,  "famine 
oppressed  them  everywhere. ' '  A  quarter  of  a  pound 
of  rancid  bacon  and  a  little  cornmeal  was  the  ordi- 
nary ration,  but  even  that  failed  when  the  railroads 
broke  down  or  were  destroyed,  and  the  bacon,  meal 
and  flour  were  left  piled  up  beside  the  tracks  in 
the  southwest.2 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  758. 

2 Gordon's  ' « Eeminiscences  of  the  Civil  War,"  pp.  381,  419. 

525 


UNDER   THE   OLD   FLAG 

Mrs.  Burton  Harrison,  in  her  happily  written 
reminiscences  of  the  dark  days  in  Richmond,  con- 
firms the  above,  and  it  is  now  well  known  that  my 
deep  cut  into  the  vitals  of  the  Confederacy  was  the 
beginning  of  that  '  '  terrible  disaster ' '  feared  by  Lee 
and  which  followed  in  the  spring  after  a  hard  win- 
ter had  sapped  the  strength  and  morale  of  his  army. 
It  is  also  an  interesting  fact  that  the  work  of  de- 
stroying the  resources  and  communications  of  the 
Confederacy,  thus  successfully  begun  in  Virginia 
by  Hunter,  Sheridan,  and  myself,  was  thoroughly 
completed  and  the  last  blow  struck  by  troops  under 
my  command  in  March  and  April,  1865,  during  the 
final  campaign  through  the  states  of  Alabama  and 
Georgia. 

Measuring  then  the  success  of  my  operations 
in  south  Virginia  by  the  severity  of  the  distress 
and  injury  inflicted  upon  the  enemy,  it  is  apparent 
that  my  blow  struck  home  against  the  vitals  of  the 
Confederacy  and  made  it  more  than  probable  that 
if  Sheridan  had  united  with  either  Hunter  or  my- 
self, Lynchburg  would  have  been  captured  and  the 
railroads  south  of  the  James  would  have  been  de- 
stroyed beyond  the  hope  of  repair.  With  this  done 
our  victorious  return  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 1 
would  have  enabled  it  not  only  to  occupy  the  rail- 
roads south  and  west  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg 
permanently,  but  would  have  made  it  feasible  for 
Grant  to  end  the  war  nearly  a  year  earlier  than 
he  did. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  cavalry  operations 
by  which  the  railroads  around  Eichmond  and  Peters- 
burg were  so  seriously  interrupted  have  been  com- 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  70,  pp.  650,  652. 
526 


BREAKING    LEE'S    COMMUNICATIONS 

monly  called  raids,  but  the  military  student  will  re- 
gard them  as  serious  and  necessary  parts  of  a  gen- 
eral campaign,  which  should  have  compelled  the 
evacuation  of  both  those  cities.  That  they  fell  short 
of  this  expectation  was  certainly  due,  first,  to 
Grant's  scattering  instead  of  concentrating  the 
forces  available  for  their  execution ;  second,  to  the 
failure  of  the  infantry  confronting  Petersburg  to 
extend  its  lines  across  both  the  country  and  rail- 
roads to  the  Appomattox;  and,  third,  to  Sheridan's 
failure,  with  or  without  orders,  to  follow  Hampton 
from  the  hour  he  disappeared  from  his  front  north 
of  the  James,  to  the  left  of  our  army,  where  it  would 
have  been  easy  for  Sheridan  to  keep  open  the  road 
for  my  return  to  a  junction  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac. 


527 


XX 


RESTING  AND  REFITTING  DIVISION  ON  THE 
JAMES 

Charges  of  Richmond  newspapers — Meade  asks  for  explan- 
ations— Serious  epoch — Early  crosses  Potomac  and 
threatens  Washington — Sheridan  in  command  against 
him — Wilson  goes  to  Sheridan's  assistance — Interview 
with  Stanton  at  Washington — Covers  Sheridan's  rear 
from  Winchester  to  Halltown — Affair  at  Kearneyville 
— Revisits  Antietam  battlefield — Return  to  Valley  of 
Virginia. 

We  had  hardly  got  back  and  received  the  con- 
gratulations of  our  friends  when  a  Richmond  news- 
paper was  sent  me  by  General  Grant  claiming  to 
contain  a  correct  account  of  my  captured  headquar- 
ters wagon  and  of  the  articles  found  in  it.  It  also 
printed  a  note  from  Dana,  written  in  such  a  char- 
acteristically bad  hand  that  it  could  not  be  deci- 
phered, and  hence  as  published  made  nothing  but 
nonsense.  It  alleged  that  a  service  of  church  plate 
had  been  found  among  my  effects,  along  with  a  lot  of 
wines  and  delicacies,  on  which  they  charged  me  with 
being  * '  a  highwayman,  a  wine-bibber,  and  a  modern 
Sardanapalus. ' '  Grant  and  my  friends  considered 
these  denunciations  as  the  best  evidence  that  our 

528 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

expedition  had  succeeded,  not  only  in  doing  what  it 
had  been  sent  for,  but  in  giving  a  serious  blow  to  the 
enemy.  As  it  was  well  known  that  I  drank  nothing 
stronger  than  coffee  and  did  not  even  permit  liquor 
to  be  brought  to  my  headquarters,  neither  of  these 
charges  gave  me  much  concern.  But  Meade  at  first 
took  a  more  serious  view  of  the  matter,  for  without 
delay  he  sent  an  official  communication  through  the 
regular  channels,1  calling  my  attention  to  the  state- 
ment of  the  Richmond  Examiner,  July  2,  1864,  and 
asking  an  explanation  of  its  allegations  against  my- 
self and  my  command.  Sheridan  brought  the  com- 
munication in  person  and  as  he  handed  it  to  me  he 
called  out,  without  waiting  for  my  comments: 
"Damn  him!    Give  him  hell!,, 

Of  course,  I  replied  at  once  in  a  formal  report, 
supported  by  certified  copies  of  circular  orders  for 
the  government  of  my  command,  accompanied  by 
statements  on  honor  of  my  assistants,  adjutant,  in- 
spector, and  provost  marshal  general.2  It  was  easy 
enough  for  me  to  disclaim  all  knowledge  of  the 
church  service,  the  wines  and  liquors,  and  the  high- 
way robbery  charges.  Having  done  that,  I  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  outcry  of  the  Rich- 
mond newspapers  in  face  of  the  precautions  I  had 
taken  to  maintain  discipline,  instead  of  being  a  basis 
of  charges  against  me  and  my  command,  should  be 
considered  rather  as  conclusive  testimony  to  the  suc- 
cess of  our  raid  and  to  the  injury  it  had  inflicted 
upon  the  enemy.  I  am  glad  to  add  that  as  soon 
as  my  report  and  the  accompanying  documents  were 
reached  General  Meade  accepted  them  as  "  entirely 

1 0.  E.  Serial  No.  81,  p.  632. 

aO.  B.  Serial  No.  82,  pp.  15,  16,  17,  ia 

529 


UNDEE   THE    OLD   FLAG 

satisfactory,"  1  and  the  incident  was  closed.  Meet- 
ing him  a  few  days  later,  he  not  only  assured  me 
"that  it  was  not  his  design  to  reflect  upon  either 
myself  or  my  command, '  f  but  then  and  there  he  ten- 
dered me  and  my  division  his  heartiest  thanks.  He 
recognized  fully  our  success  and  the  great  damage 
we  had  inflicted  upon  the  enemy's  communications, 
but,  singularly  enough,  he  made  no  reference  what- 
ever to  the  far  more  important  matter  of  Sheridan 's 
failure  to  follow  Hampton,  or  to  his  own  failure 
to  keep  the  roads  open  for  our  return  to  the  army. 
I  learned  afterward  from  Dana  and  Eawlins 
that  Meade 's  action  in  this  case  was  strongly  disap- 
proved by  Grant,  and  that  the  latter  was  on  the 
point  of  making  it  the  final  grounds  for  removing 
Meade  from  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
and  for  simplifying  the  organization  of  the  forces 
under  his  command.  While  neither  proposition  was 
carried  into  effect,  the  former  serves  to  show  that 
the  relations  between  Grant  and  Meade,  although 
externally  friendly,  were  really  in  what  might  be 
rightly  designated  as  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium. 
It  indicates  also  that  Grant  was  far  from  satisfied 
with  the  arrangements  as  they  existed,  or  with  the 
results  obtained,  and  that  it  would  have  required 
but  little  additional  friction  to  bring  about  a  reor- 
ganization of  the  army  at  that  time.  Both  Dana 
and  Rawlins  declared  that  they  had  never  seen 
Grant  so  disturbed  as  he  was  on  that  occasion  and 
that  he  had  more  than  once  said  openly  that  he 
intended  to  remove  Meade  from  command.2 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  68. 

2 See  also  "Dana's  Recollections  of  the  Civil  War,"  pp.  226, 
227,  228. 

530 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

Naturally,  the  storm  blew  over,  and  yet  the  mili- 
tary student,  reflecting  upon  Meade's  and  Sheri- 
dan's failure  to  hold  the  door  open  for  me,  might 
well  regret  that  it  had  not  ended  in  Grant's  taking 
immediate  and  direct  command  of  all  the  troops 
serving  in  that  theater  of  war  and  reducing  Meade, 
in  spite  of  his  undoubted  merits,  to  the  command 
of  an  army  corps.  With  Rawlins  as  chief-of-staff 
and  Humphreys  as  his  professional  assistant,  no 
better  team  could  have  been  arranged  for  working 
out  the  details  of  army  movements  and  of  securing 
their  prompt,  orderly,  and  coherent  execution.  It 
would,  at  least,  have  placed  the  responsibility  upon 
them  as  Grant's  principal  assistants  and  made  it 
known  that  to  them  and  them  alone  should  all  fail- 
ures in  the  details  of  military  operations  be 
ascribed.  How  much  sooner  the  war  would  have 
ended,  no  one  can  state,  but  that  it  would  have  gone 
forward  in  that  theater  at  least  in  a  much  more 
methodical  and  effective  manner  can  hardly  be  ques- 
tioned. Meade,  although  somewhat  lacking  in  ag- 
gressive temper,  was  an  able  and  accomplished  sol- 
dier, but  he,  like  the  rest,  would  have  found  it  much 
easier  to  command  an  army  corps  than  an  entire 
army,  and  much  simpler  to  execute  detailed  instruc- 
tions than  to  frame  them  himself,  or  to  cause  others 
to  carry  them  into  effect  with  the  promptitude  and 
regularity  necessary  for  the  success,  without  which 
all  military  plans  and  operations  are  but  wasted 
effort  and  expense. 

The  war  had  now  reached  an  important  epoch. 
Grant,  after  two  months'  continuous  fighting  and 
fearful  loss,  had  pushed  his  own  army  up  against 
Lee's  fortifications  with  such  reinforcements  and 

531 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

counter-works  as  to  make  his  position  practically 
unassailable.  He  must,  therefore,  be  dislodged  by 
strategy,  as  McClellan  had  been  dislodged  from  the 
north  bank  of  the  James  two  years  before.  The  two 
main  armies  having  fought  each  other  to  a  stand- 
still at  Petersburg  and  Hunter  having  been  defeated 
at  Lynchburg  and  retreated  toward  the  Ohio,  in- 
stead of  down  the  valley  of  Virginia,  an  impasse 
now  followed,  during  which  Lee  seems  to  have  be- 
come somewhat  overconfident.  Eegarding  his  lines 
as  impregnable,  he  detached  an  additional  force 
from  his  army,  with  orders  to  menace  Washington 
and  the  country  north  of  the  Potomac.  Confusion 
and  excitement  followed  at  the  national  capital. 
Grant,  as  Lieutenant  General,  had  naturally  absorbed 
all  power  and  responsibility.  He  was  the  actual 
commander-in-chief,  and  it  was  then  the  custom  for 
all  inferior  commanders  to  take  their  orders  directly 
from  his  headquarters.  In  consequence  of  this  cus- 
tom, aided  as  it  was  by  Grant's  indisposition  to 
give  detailed  instructions,  the  generals  commanding 
at  Washington  and  vicinity  were  more  or  less  left 
to  their  own  devices,  and,  neither  having  supreme 
authority  over  the  other,  military  movements  were 
uncertain,  while  effective  combinations  were  almost 
impossible. 

As  the  enemy  made  his  appearance  on  the  Mo- 
nocacy  in  July,  threatening  to  invest  Washington, 
Grant,  who  had  not  left  the  James,  was  called  to 
the  new  scene  of  action  by  the  Secretary  of  War. 
Dana  had  already  advised  him  to  come  at  once,  if 
he  wished  an  effective  defense  to  be  made.1  He  had 
thereupon  ordered  the  Sixth  Corps  to  Washington. 

1 ' '  Dana 's  Becolleetions, ' '  p.  229  et  seq. 
532 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

Hunter,  the  senior  general  in  that  quarter,  was  get- 
ting old.  While  a  most  gallant  and  aggressive 
leader,  he  not  only  lacked  decision,  but  his  eccentric 
retreat  to  the  Ohio  had  effectually  removed  him 
from  his  true  field  of  operations.  What  the  situa- 
tion called  for  now  was  an  active  and  vigorous 
commander  over  all  the  forces  covering  the 
national  capital.  After  the  battle  of  Monocacy  and 
the  appearance  of  the  Sixth  Corps  in  the  de- 
fenses of  Washington,  Early  and  his  Confederate 
forces  withdrew  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  This 
made  an  aggressive  campaign  against  him  neces- 
sary. 

Sheridan,  the  cavalry  commander,  was  detailed 
to  the  new  department,  which  included  all  northern 
Virginia.  The  two  divisions  under  his  immediate 
command,  operating,  resting,  and  refitting  on  the 
James  Eiver  for  nearly  a  month,  were  now  in  ex- 
cellent condition  for  the  first  time. 

Sheridan  started  for  the  Valley  of  Virginia  on 
August  1,  where  he  was  soon  joined  by  Torbert 
and  later  by  myself  with  our  respective  divisions. 
Mine  at  that  time  consisted  of  two  brigades.  The 
first  was  commanded  by  Brigadier  General  John  B. 
Mcintosh,  with  the  First  Connecticut,  Third  New 
Jersey,  Second  New  York  (four  troops),  Fifth  New 
York,  Second  Ohio,  and  Eighteenth  Pennsylvania. 
The  second  brigade,  commanded  by  Brigadier  Gen- 
eral George  H.  Chapman,  consisted  of  the  Third  In- 
diana Detachment,  First  New  Hampshire  (seven 
troops),  Eighth  New  York,  Twenty-second  New 
York,  and  the  First  Vermont.  Battery  M,  Second 
United  States  Artillery,  with  six  guns,  was  attached 
to  the  first  brigade,  and  Batteries  C  and  E,  Fourth 

533 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

United  States  Artillery,  with  six  guns,  was  attached 
to  the  second  brigade.  While  all  of  the  regiments 
were  small,  they  now  mustered  nearly  five  thousand 
men  for  duty. 

During  the  last  five  days,  with  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  my  division  held  the  left  flank  from  the 
end  of  our  infantry  line  to  Lee  's  Mill,  where  it  con- 
nected with  the  Second  Cavalry  Division.  Having 
been  directed  to  cooperate  with  Torbert  in  an  as- 
sault upon  the  enemy's  position  near  the  Lead 
Works,  I  made  all  my  arrangements  accordingly, 
dismounting  my  entire  division,  sending  the  horses 
to  the  rear,  and  deploying  the  troopers  in  single  line, 
ready  to  advance  at  the  word  when  Torbert  rode 
upon  the  ground  and  asked  me  what  the  situation 
was  in  my  front.1 

As  I  understood  it,  my  orders  required  an  as- 
sault of  the  fortified  line  in  front,  without  waiting 
for  anybody,  but  I  pointed  out  the  probability  that 
our  attack  would  prove  too  light  to  break  through 
the  enemy's  entrenchments,  whereupon,  without 
more  ado,  Torbert  ordered  me  to  withdraw  my  men 
and  remount.  Without  further  action,  much  to  my 
surprise,  he  then  reported  that  we  had  made  a  recon- 
noissance  against  the  enemy,  and,  finding  him  too 
strongly  fortified  to  justify  a  hope  of  success,  had 
not  ventured  to  make  the  attack  ordered,  but  had 
gone  into  bivouac  with  both  divisions  in  rear  of 
the  ground  they  had  occupied. 

While  Torbert  in  this  case  doubtless  saved  many 
lives  which  would  have  been  uselessly  expended  in 
an  assault  in  open  order,  as  was  the  custom  in  those 

J0.  R.  Serial  No.  82,  p.  670,  Wilson  to  Forsyth;  also  p.  670, 
Torbert  to  Humphreys. 

534 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

days,  his  exercise  of  such  discretion  was  quite  new 
to  me.  It  was  the  first  time  I  found  myself  along- 
side either  of  the  other  divisions  in  line  of  battle, 
and  I  naturally  felt  anxious  that  mine  should  acquit 
itself  creditably,  but  my  surprise  at  the  order  not 
to  attack,  after  receiving  positive  orders  from  army 
headquarters  to  do  so,  was  greater,  if  possible,  than 
my  anxiety  that  the  division  should  give  a  good  ac- 
count of  itself.  It  was  new  practice,  and,  I  am 
glad  to  say,  one  I  never  copied,  for  the  idea  that 
any  subordinate  should  fail  to  carry  out  positive 
orders,  or  should  report  that  he  had  carried  them 
out  when  he  had  not  really  tried  to  do  so,  had  never 
occurred  to  me  as  admissible  in  a  great  army  with 
such  tasks  before  it  as  then  confronted  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  Torbert  was  a  good  soldier  who 
had  won  special  distinction  with  the  infantry  and 
had  done  well  with  cavalry,  but  his  military  habits 
were  entirely  different  from  mine.  It  seemed  then, 
and  it  has  seemed  ever  since,  that  the  exercise  of 
discretion  in  regard  to  a  movement  ordered  from 
head'quarters  as  a  part  of  a  general  plan  was  haz- 
ardous in  the  extreme. 

Up  to  that  time  I  had  never  failed  to  carry  out 
any  order  received  from  proper  authority.  So  long 
as  plans  or  movements  were  open  for  discussion,  I 
gave  my  views  fully  and  freely,  but  when  time  came 
for  action  I  left  the  responsibility  to  those  in  author- 
ity over  me  and  did  the  very  best  I  could  with  the 
means  at  my  disposal,  whether  I  approved  the  plan 
decided  upon  or  not.  Under  this  rule  I  can  truth- 
fully aver  that  I  never  received  an  order  to  attack 
or  to  go  to  any  part  of  the  field  that  I  did  not  start 
promptly  at  the  time  designated.     Nor  did  I  ever 

535 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

fail  to  reach  the  point  toward  which  I  was  directed. 
This,  it  seems  to  me,  should  be  the  rule  for  all  sub- 
ordinate commanders,  and  yet  the  practice  in  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  was  frequently  different,  often 
leading  to  failures,  as  well  as  to  ill-timed  and  dis- 
jointed efforts,  which  generally  ended  in  loss  and 
disaster. 

On  August  4,  1864,  I  withdrew  from  the  left 
of  the  army  and  took  steamer  at  City  Point  for  Gies- 
boro  Depot,  near  Washington,  to  refit  my  divi- 
sion, to  remount  the  dismounted  men,  and  to  ex- 
change our  heterogeneous  assortment  of  firearms 
for  the  Spencer  magazine  carbine,  which  had  been 
adopted  as  the  standard  for  the  cavalry  largely  on 
my  recommendation. 

With  the  whole  division  refitted  as  fully  as  the 
resources  of  the  depot  would  permit,  I  began  my 
march  through  Washington  and  Georgetown  on  the 
afternoon  of  August  12  to  join  Sheridan  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia. 

It  was  a  beautiful  day,  the  division  was  in  bet- 
ter condition  than  ever  before,  many  had  new  uni- 
forms, the  guidons  were  unfurled,  the  brigade  bands 
playing  and  the  column  of  platoons,  with  clanking 
sabers  and  clattering  hoofs,  made  its  impressive 
way  by  Pennsylvania  Avenue  and  Georgetown  to 
the  Potomac  bridge  and  country  beyond.  But  the 
weather  was  as  hot  and  dry  as  it  could  possibly  be. 
Dana,  who  had  joined  me  and  was  riding  at  my  side, 
suggested  that  we  should  both  relish  a  plate  of  ice 
cream.  Thereupon  we  left  the  column  to  continue 
its  march,  while  we  dismounted  at  Kidenour's,  then 
the  principal  restaurant  in  Washington,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  refresh  ourselves,  and  I  do  not  recall  an 

536 


RESTING   AND   BEFITTING 

instance  in  all  my  life  when  I  enjoyed  an  ice  more 
thoroughly  than  I  did  upon  that  occasion.  Of 
course,  we  ate  quickly  and  took  to  horse  before  the 
rear  of  the  column  had  passed. 

Just  beyond  the  war  department  an  orderly  over- 
took me  with  the  information  that  Secretary  Stan- 
ton wanted  to  see  me  at  his  office,  and  I  reported 
there  immediately.  Clad  in  field  uniform,  forage 
cap,  jacket,  baggy  trousers,  top  boots,  a  pair  of  sil- 
ver spurs,  and  a  rattling  saber,  I  was  shown  at  once 
into  the  Secretary's  office.  I  had  not  met  him  for 
nearly  three  months,  but  as  our  relations  had  been 
in  no  way  intimate,  I  expected  but  little  courtesy 
and  no  civility  at  his  hands.  I  am  free  to  confess, 
however,  that  when  he  received  me  without  saluta- 
tion or  asking  me  to  be  seated,  but  broke  out  in  a 
loud  and  menacing  voice :  * '  General  Wilson,  I  want 
to  know  why  you  wrote  that  letter  to  Senator  Har- 
ris," I  was  somewhat  surprised.  As  I  did  not  re- 
call the  letter,  I  coolly  asked :  "  What  letter,  Mr.  Sec- 
retary '?"  Whereupon  in  a  still  louder  and  fiercer 
tone  he  said:  "That  letter  about  reorganizing  the 
Second  New  York  Cavalry.' '.  With  that  explana- 
tion I  recalled  the  facts  and  at  once  answered :  ' '  Be- 
cause the  Second  New  York  Cavalry,  although  worn 
down  to  four  troops,  is  one  of  the  best  regiments 
in  the  service  and  I  wanted  to  interest  the  Senator, 
for  whom  it  is  named  the  Harris  Light  Guard,  in 
its  reorganization.  I  felt  that  with  his  influence  I 
could  get  Governor  Seymour  to  fill  up  and  return 
the  regiment  to  the  field  more  promptly  than  it  could 
be  done  through  the  regular  channels.' '  This  said, 
I  concluded  with  some  emphasis:  "I  therefore 
wrote  that  letter  because  the  interests  of  the  public 

537 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

service  required  it!"  Thereupon  the  Secretary  ex- 
claimed with  still  greater  violence:  "Well,  I  am 
surprised,  Sir!  By  God,  Sir,  I  am  surprised!  If 
you  had  been  one  of  those  damned  volunteers,  I 
should  have  thought  nothing  of  it,  but,  coming  from 
you,  Sir,  a  regular,  who  ought  to  know  better,  I  am 
surprised,  Sir,  that  you  should  write  such  a  letter 
to  any  one  except  through  the  official  channels.,, 

After  I  had  correctly  and  fully  explained  I 
paused  and  then  calmly  asked  if  he  had  anything 
further  to  say.  To  this  he  replied:  "That's  all!" 
Thereupon  I  saluted,  withdrew,  and  rejoined  my 
command  on  the  march.  The  Secretary's  outburst 
was  both  violent  and  surprising,  and  when  I  state 
that  the  Second  New  York  rejoined  a  few  weeks 
later  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  under  its  boy  colo- 
nel, the  gallant  Hull,  with  one  thousand  three  hun- 
dred men  and  horses,  I  am  sure  I  not  only  took  the 
right  course,  but  gave  the  irascible  Secretary  ex- 
actly the  right  answer. 

I  recount  this  trifling  incident  to  illustrate  the 
irascible  temper  and  undignified  behavior  of  the 
Secretary  whenever  he  met  an  officer  who  did  not 
fear  him  or  stand  trembling  in  his  presence.  It  is 
too  true  that  just  such  violent  language  was  likely 
to  come  from  him  whenever  he  met  any  one  against 
whose  conduct  he  could  raise  either  a  technical  or 
a  valid  objection.  He  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of 
great  patriotism  and  determination,  but  I  am  sure 
his  violent  outbursts  of  temper  and  profane  lan- 
guage arose  from  a  serious  defect  of  character.  Had 
he  been  capable  of  self-control,  or  had  the  manners 
of  a  gentleman,  he  would  have  been  a  far  greater 
and  more  admirable  Secretary.     It  has  been  fre- 

538 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

quently  stated  that  no  living  American  could  have 
taken  his  place  as  Secretary  of  War,  but,  with  some 
personal  knowledge  and  a  good  deal  of  corrobora- 
tive information,  I  have  always  believed  that  his 
temper  and  his  bad  manners  were  a  serious  blemish 
upon  his  character  and  a  serious  detriment  to  his 
usefulness.  I  am  equally  sure  that  there  were  other 
men,  even  in  his  own  department,  who  could  have 
filled  that  office  much  better  than  Mr.  Stanton,  not- 
ably Mr.  Dana,  who  was  much  better  qualified  by 
actual  contact  with  the  army  and  its  leading  officers, 
by  business  experience  and  natural  capacity,  as  well 
as  by  conviction,  sanity  of  temper,  and  method. 

The  column  reached  Leesburg  by  night  on 
August  12.  The  next  day  I  pushed  on  through 
Snicker's  Gap  and  Whitepost  to  Winchester,  where 
I  formed  a  junction  with  Sheridan  just  as  he  was 
retreating  by  the  way  of  Berry ville  toward  Harper's 
Ferry.  Having  joined  Torbert's  cavalry  and  Pen- 
rose's infantry,  I  at  once  took  charge  of  covering 
their  rear.  With  a  good  deal  of  sharp  skirmishing 
I  drove  the  enemy's  advance  back  upon  Brecken- 
ridge's  corps,  and  thus  closed  the  day,  but  we  con- 
tinued the  march  by  night  to  Summit  Point,  where 
we  bivouacked  just  before  daylight. 

The  army  found  a  strong  position  at  Charles- 
town,  a  few  miles  farther  on,  but,  for  some  reason 
never  explained,  it  retreated  the  next  day  to  Hall- 
town,  three  miles  west  of  Harper's  Ferry.  Sheri- 
dan had  evidently  not  yet  found  himself.  He  per- 
sistently overestimated  Early's  strength,  not  only 
then,  but  till  the  end  of  the  campaign.  At  all  events, 
he  maneuvered  most  cautiously  for  the  next  four 
weeks,  during  which  time  there  was  much  comment 

539 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

in  the  newspapers  upon  the  uncertain  outlook  in  his 
military  division.  His  caution,  whatever  its  cause, 
gave  rise  to  much  criticism  of  his  assignment  to  so 
important  a  command.  Although  over  thirty-three 
years  of  age  and  famed  as  an  Indian  fighter  as  well 
as  a  successful  commander  of  both  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry, he  wTas  thought  by  many  too  young  and  by 
others  too  inexperienced  for  so  great  a  responsibil- 
ity. The  country,  therefore,  grew  exceedingly  un- 
easy, for,  while  Grant  was  making  no  progress  south 
of  the  James,  Early's  army  in  the  lower  Shenandoah 
Valley  was  regarded  as  a  great  menace  both  to 
"Washington  and  to  Pennsylvania.  While  its  real 
strength  was  doubtless  understated  by  the  Confed- 
erate authorities,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that 
Sheridan,  on  the  other  hand,  overestimated  it 
largely  from  first  to  last.  It  will  be  recalled  that 
Grant  finally  made  a  demonstration  at  Petersburg 
with  the  view  of  preventing  further  detachments, 
but  his  operations  were  both  futile  and  disappoint- 
ing, and  this  served  to  increase  the  anxiety  for 
Sheridan.  The  price  of  gold  rose  rapidly  to  a  height 
never  before  reached.  The  country  became  almost 
panic-stricken  and  even  Grant  himself,  while  pro- 
fessing every  confidence  in  his  gallant  lieutenant, 
was  evidently  growing  uneasy.  During  this  season 
of  doubt  and  hesitation  my  division  did  its  full  share 
of  the  work.  It  covered  the  rear,  as  usual,  on  the 
retreat  and  one  flank  or  the  other  next  to  the  enemy 
on  the  advance.  At  Halltown  it  held  the  extreme 
right,  connecting  with  the  infantry  and  the  Potomac 
at  Harper's  Ferry.  Torbert,  Merritt,  and  Averell 
were  near  Shepherdstown,  where  the  Valley  Turn- 
pike crossed  the  Potomac.     This  was  the  situation 

540 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

on  August  25,  when  I  received  orders  to  cooperate 
with  Torbert  in  a  movement  by  the  way  of  Kear- 
neyville,  south  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  enemy's  position 
and  purposes. 

Having  joined  Torbert  promptly  on  time  in  a 
clear,  rolling,  open  country  at  Walper's  Crossroads, 
near  the  railway  station,  and,  as  this  was  the  first 
time  the  entire  mounted  force  were  united  in  an  ag- 
gressive movement,  I  was  anxious  that  my  division, 
newly  armed  and  equipped,  should  show  what  it 
could  do.  Many  of  our  cavalry  commanders  had  ex- 
pressed their  incredulity  as  to  the  merits  of  the 
Spencer  magazine  carbine  with  which  all  my  regi- 
ments were  now  armed,  and,  as  it  was  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  war  that  an  entire  division 
of  troops  had  ever  appeared  on  any  battlefield  with 
magazine  guns,  both  my  brigade  and  regimental 
commanders  were  alert  to  show  what  they  could  do. 

Just  after  crossing  the  railway  our  pickets,  well 
out,  reported  the  enemy  as  approaching.  Hastily 
dismounting  the  entire  division,  sending  the  led 
horses  to  the  rear  and  pushing  the  artillery  close 
to  the  front,  our  strong  skirmish  line,  deployed  at 
intervals  of  only  five  feet,  soon  struck  the  enemy, 
marching  in  column  toward  the  north.  With  a  for- 
ward rush  and  a  fire  of  surprising  volume,  we  were 
soon  hotly  engaged,  overthrowing  the  enemy's  head 
of  column  and  pushing  him  rapidly  back  a  thousand 
yards  or  more,  capturing  between  sixty  and  seventy 
prisoners,  who  were  promptly  brought  to  the  rear 
for  examination.  As  they  represented  regiments 
from  all  parts  of  Breckenridge  's  corps,  it  soon  be- 
came clear  that  Early's  whole  army  was  again  on 

541 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

the  road  for  Maryland.  Kealizing  that  a  solid  line 
of  battle  would  be  upon  us  as  soon  as  it  could  form, 
I  reported  these  facts  promptly  to  Torbert  and  took 
the  liberty  of  remounting  my  skirmishers  with  the 
least  delay  possible.  By  this  precaution  I  was  ready 
to  withdraw  as  soon  as  orders  to  that  effect  could 
reach  me. 

Having  accomplished  the  purpose  of  this  recon- 
noissance  in  force,  Torbert  promptly  directed  that 
the  corps  withdraw  and  that  our  respective  divi- 
sions should  return  to  Shepherdstown  and  Halltown. 
One  of  my  officers,  having  gone  to  Torbert 's  head- 
quarters for  such  orders  as  he  might  wish  to  send 
me,  while  waiting,  overheard  Torbert  and  Merritt 
conferring  and  the  latter  say:  "Give  Wilson  the 
rear,  with  orders  to  hold  on  strongly  till  we  get  out 
of  the  way.  This  will  delay  him,  so  that  the  enemy 
will  follow  him  to  Halltown  and  give  him  hell,  while 
we  return  leisurely  to  our  camps  at  Shepherds- 
town.  ■ '  My  aid  promptly  reported  this  amiable  sug- 
gestion to  me  still  on  the  field. 

Fully  perceiving  the  trap  thus  set  for  me,  I  has- 
tily mounted  the  skirmish  line  and  rear  guard  and 
directed  the  officer  in  charge,  while  making  as  great 
a  show  of  resistance  as  possible,  to  fall  back  slowly 
in  open  order,  firing  as  the  enemy  advanced  and 
maneuvering  with  all  the  deliberation  possible,  with 
the  hope  that  we  should  thereby  so  delay  the  enemy 
as  to  gain  ample  time  for  the  division  with  its  bat- 
teries, after  passing  through  the  woods  and  gain- 
ing the  side  road  to  Halltown  under  the  screen  of 
the  forest,  to  take  the  trot,  with  the  calculation  that 
by  the  time  the  enemy  got  through  we  should  have 
disappeared  entirely  from  sight.     The  skirmishers 

542 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

were  well  and  rapidly  handled  by  Captain  Blount, 
a  gallant  young  aid-de-camp,  who  in  the  midst  of 
it  all,  received  a  shot  back  of  the  ear,  grooving  his 
skull  and  knocking  him  senseless  to  the  ground.  The 
fall,  however,  revived  him  and,  quickly  remounting, 
he  rode  by,  holding  his  bleeding  ear  from  the  side 
of  his  head  and  calling  out  cheerfully:  "General, 
do  you  think  this  good  for  twenty  days?"  As  I  said : 
"Yes,  go  on,"  he  rejoined  his  command,  leaving  the 
rest  of  us  with  the  escort  to  cover  our  disappearing 
squadrons  from  the  enemy  behind  the  woods  till 
we  reached  Halltown. 

Meanwhile,  Early,  losing  sight  of  us,  marched 
straight  down  the  turnpike  till  late  in  the  evening, 
when  he  fell  upon  Torbert  's  unguarded  camps  with- 
out warning  and  drove  most  of  his  troops  into  the 
neighboring  woods  or  into  the  Potomac.  They  were 
so  completely  surprised  that  they  made  no  effective 
resistance.  They  had  not  even  posted  their  pickets, 
nor  had  they  begun  to  unsaddle,  hence  the  result 
was  not  so  disastrous  as  it  might  have  been.  Men 
and  officers  scrambled  to  their  saddles  as  best  they 
could  in  the  darkness  and  confusion.  Custer  forded 
the  river  to  Sharpsburg,  while  Torbert  and  Merritt, 
with  several  mixed  and  miscellaneous  detachments, 
drifted  into  my  camp  between  nine  and  ten  o'clock 
that  night  in  a  state  of  disorder  and  confusion.  Of 
course,  we  sounded  to  arms  and  stood  to  horse  at 
once,  waiting  for  the  enemy  or  for  orders,  while 
our  unexpected  visitors  rode  on  to  Sheridan's  head- 
quarters. 

Having  already  bivouacked,  unsaddled,  groomed, 
watered,  and  fed  our  horses  and  eaten  our  supper, 
we  were  quietly  resting  behind  our  regular  guards 

543 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

and  pickets  when  the  alarm  was  sounded  at  our  out- 
posts, but  the  first  I  knew  of  what  had  actually 
taken  place  was  from  Torbert  himself,  who  reached 
my  headquarters  almost  immediately  afterward. 

A  half  hour  later  Sheridan  sent  me  orders,  in- 
spired by  the  discomfiture  of  his  subordinates  and 
the  fear  that  the  enemy  would,  without  opposition, 
make  a  new  invasion  of  Maryland,  directing  me  to 
march  at  once  by  Harper's  Ferry  through  Pleasant 
Valley  and  Boonsboro  to  Sharpsburg  for  the 
purpose  of  joining  Custer  and  watching  the  river 
closely  as  far  up  as  Williamsport.  I  was  on  the  road 
by  eleven  o  'clock.  It  was  a  beautiful,  starlight  night 
and,  as  I  was  familiar  with  the  country  from  the 
Antietam  campaign,  I  lost  no  time  looking  for  roads, 
but  the  incident  of  the  night,  unexpected  as  it  was, 
was  not  lacking  in  romance,  slightly  tinged  with  a 
sense  of  gratification.  Of  course,  I  was  sorry  that 
any  part  of  the  cavalry  had  been  surprised  and 
driven  from  its  camps,  but,  having  been  in  no  way 
responsible  for  its  division,  and  still  less  for  Tor- 
bert 's  carelessness,  I  took  no  blame  for  extricating 
my  own  division  from  the  trap,  nor  for  feeling  glad 
that  the  trap  had  closed  rather  on  those  who  had 
set  it  than  on  those  for  whom  it  was  intended. 

I  marched  all  that  night  by  the  north  bank  of 
the  river,  through  the  beautiful  valleys  separating 
the  parallel  mountain  ranges,  and  by  daylight  had 
found  Custer  at  Antietam  Furnace,  and,  later  in  the 
day,  Averell  still  farther  up  the  Potomac.  It  took 
but  a  few  hours  more  to  make  sure  that  the  enemy 
had  given  up  his  plan  of  again  crossing  the  Poto- 
mac and  invading  the  North. 

Obviously,  it  was  now  our  duty  to  close  in  and 
544 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

push  Early  as  far  south  as  our  strength  would  per- 
mit. Accordingly,  without  waiting  for  orders,  I 
recrossed  the  river  at  Shepherdstown  on  the  28th 
and,  marching  by  the  turnpike  to  Charlestown,  re- 
occupied  my  old  camp  at  Berryville,  overlooking 
the  valley  of  the  Opequan,  in  the  direction  of  Win- 
chester. It  was  a  beautiful  region  of  mountains  and 
fertile  valleys,  which  had  been  the  abode  of  Vir- 
ginia 's  most  distinguished  families  for  nearly  a  hun- 
dred years.  Its  clear  streams  and  rich  harvests 
had  made  it  a  favorite  theater  from  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  for  the  march  of  contending  armies,  and„ 
while  it  had  been  measurably  stripped  of  its  stock 
and  surplus  provisions,  it  was  still  the  cavalryman's 
delight.  Charlestown,  the  scene  of  John  Brown's 
trial  and  execution,  had  fully  paid  the  penalty  of  its 
intolerance.  From  the  first  its  houses  had  been 
looted  and  its  people  scattered.  Its  site  was  now 
marked  by  a  desolate  array  of  standing  chimne}rs 
and  every  Northern  detachment  that  passed  through 
it  felt  justified  in  singing  at  its  loudest:  "John 
Brown's  body  lies  moldering  in  the  grave,  while  his 
soul  goes  marching  on!" 

Berryville,  in  whose  outskirts  my  camps  were 
pitched,  had  suffered  no  such  misfortune.  There 
was  no  animosity  against  it,  and  its  people  were 
treated  as  well  as  possible  under  the  circumstances. 
Guards  were  placed  over  their  residences  and  their 
little  belongings  were  duly  respected,  though  the 
existence  of  a  horse  in  the  neighborhood  fit  for  a 
mount  was  a  temptation  that  no  cavalry  soldier, 
whether  Federal  or  Confederate,  could  be  expected 
to  resist.  Just  as  we  were  going  into  camp  the 
staff  officer  who  had  been  pushed  off  the  bridge  in 

545 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

south  Virginia  had  again  swapped  horses,  this  time 
with  a  lad  whom  he  met  on  the  road.  He  had  given* 
a  serviceable  but  somewhat  antiquated  mare  in  ex- 
change for  an  exceedingly  likely  young  horse  and 
was  rejoicing  in  the  exchange  when,  just  as  our 
tents  were  rising,  he  cried  out  in  a  tone  of  anguish: 
"By  heavens,  there  comes  the  old  mare!"  There- 
upon, an  exceedingly  handsome,  well-dressed  woman 
was  shown  in  and  had  hardly  explained  what  she 
wanted  when  the  officer  very  gallantly  accepted  his 
old  jade  and  gave  up  the  young  horse.  But  this  was 
not  the  end;  the  lady  immediately  explained  that 
our  men  had  also  taken  an  excellent  pair  of  young 
mules,  without  which  it  would  be  impossible  for  her 
to  make  a  crop  and  carry  on  her  farm  work,  both 
of  which  were  necessary  for  the  support  of  her 
young  and  innocent  children.  Her  appeal  was  too 
touching  for  me  and  I  replied  at  once  with  such 
gallantry  as  I  could  command  that  she  might  have 
her  mules  also  if  she  could  find  them.  As  we  had 
several  hundred  in  our  train  and  as  all  mules  look 
more  or  less  alike,  I  had  no  idea  that  she  could  pick 
out  hers.  Indeed,  I  did  not  suppose  that  there  was 
a  woman  in  the  Confederacy  who  could  have  done 
so.  But  I  was  greatly  mistaken,  for  within  five 
minutes  she  walked  out  of  our  camp,  leading  two 
mules,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  aid-de-camp 
who  had  taken  back  the  old  mare.  We  afterward 
got  to  know  the  lady  quite  well  and  to  regard  her 
both  for  beauty  and  intelligence  as  a  most  charming 
person.  During  her  next  call  I  complimented  her 
by  saying  how  glad  I  was  she  was  not  a  man,  and 
when  asked  why  I  replied,  because  if  she  were  a 
man,  she  would  be  a  Confederate  brigadier,  accord- 

546 


RESTING   AND    REFITTING 

ing  to  my  judgment,  with  brains  enough  to  supply 
a  half  dozen  of  the  ordinary  kind.  As  it  turned  out, 
she  was  the  wife  of  Lee's  staff  surgeon,  and,  I  am 
glad  to  add,  her  children  not  only  grew  up  none  the 
worse  for  our  presence  in  the  neighborhood,  but 
afterward  married  greatly  to  the  mother's  satis- 
faction. 

The  entire  lower  valley  had  a  special  interest  for 
me  from  the  fact  that  my  father  was  born  near 
Front  Royal,  a  few  miles  further  up,  and,  according 
to  tradition,  his  father  had  represented  that  dis- 
trict in  Congress  from  1804  to  the  close  of  1808.1 
I  had  in  my  boyhood  often  heard  my  father  speak 
of  it  as  a  region  abounding  in  good  land,  beautiful 
streams,  and  patriotic  people.  From  these  circum- 
stances I  felt  strongly  drawn  toward  it  and  always 
said  that  if  the  war  should  reach  that  stage  in  which 
"our  army  should  be  divided  as  Parson  Brownlow 
is  said  to  have  proposed:  *  first  the  fighters,  second 
the  burners  and  third  the  surveyors, 9 ' 9 1  hoped  the 
Government  would  set  off  my  share  in  the  Valley  of 
Virginia. 

1  ll Biographical  Congressional  Directory,"  Alexander  Wilson,  p. 

888. 


547 


XXI 

IN   THE   VALLEY   OF   VIRGINIA 

Sheridan  rests  and  reeonnoiters — Mcintosh  captures 
South  Carolina  regiments — Grant  orders  Sheridan  to 
"go  in" — Battle  of  the  Opequan  or  Winchester — Wil- 
son opens  the  engagement — Torbert  and  Wilson  in 
pursuit — Gooney  Run — Staunton — Browntown  Gap — 
Return  to  Harrisonburg — Wilson  ordered  West  to  re- 
organize and  command  Sherman's  cavalry. 

From  August  30  till  September  13  we  spent 
our  time  in  resting,  feeding,  setting  shoes,  drilling, 
skirmishing,  reconnoitering,  and  organizing  an  in- 
telligence corps.  Our  front  from  Berryville  ex- 
tended from  the  Blue  Ridge,  through  Millwood  and 
Whitepost  to  the  Opequan.  Our  officers  became  en- 
tirely familiar  with  the  country  and  scarcely  a  rab- 
bit could  stir  without  their  knowing  it.  The  enemy, 
especially  the  redoubtable  partisan  Mosby,  was  con- 
stantly on  the  alert.  Mosby  was  a  dashing  and  en- 
terprising fellow,  liable  when  least  expected  to  fall 
upon  an  outlying  detachment  by  night  or  to  assail 
one  from  a  hidden  nook  in  the  woods  by  day.  We 
made  special  efforts  to  capture  him  and  several  offi- 
cers told  how  near  they  were  to  success,  but  none 
ever  brought  him  in.  He  came  there  once,  however, 
on  his  own  account,  but  did  not  remain  long  enough 

548 


IN    THE    VALLEY    OF   VIRGINIA 

to  be  counted  a  prisoner.  It  was  early  one  Septem- 
ber night,  when  the  camp  guards,  pickets,  and  sen- 
tinels were  the  only  part  of  the  command  on  watch. 
Neither  I  nor  my  staff  had  yet  gone  to  bed.  My 
adjutant,  Captain  Siebert,  a  herculean  man  and  an 
excellent  volunteer,  a  native  of  Darmstadt,  and  two 
of  my  aids  were  chatting  with  me  by  a  smoldering 
camp  fire  when  suddenly  we  heard  sharp  and  rapid 
firing  at  the  outposts,  followed  almost  instantly  by 
still  closer  firing  and  a  racket  as  though  we  had  been 
attacked  by  the  enemy.  The  adjutant,  ever  vigilant, 
instantly  ordered  the  bugler  to  sound :  ' '  To  arms ! '  ? 
The  call  rang  out  clear  at  once,  and  was  repeated 
from  brigade  and  regimental  headquarters  till  the 
whole  command  had  responded  to  the  notes  of  the 
bugle.  The  brigade  commanders  reported  in  less 
than  five  minutes  that  their  men  were  under  arms 
and  ready  for  orders.  Almost  immediately  a  gal- 
loping rush  was  heard  through  the  camp  within  a 
hundred  yards  of  my  own  tent,  followed  in  turn  by 
the  rattle  of  carbines  and  then  by  silence.  It  took 
but  little  to  learn  that  Mosby,  in  a  spirit  of  bravado, 
had  charged  our  camp,  doubtless  expecting  to  sur- 
prise it  and  to  pick  up  enough  horses  and  prisoners 
to  repay  him  for  his  enterprise.  But  the  firing  at 
the  outposts  and  the  sudden  blare  of  the  bugles 
quickly  convinced  him  that  a  surprise  was  impos- 
sible. Such  alarms  were  not  infrequent.  They  cost 
my  division  nothing  more  than  broken  rest,  but  they 
were  always  welcome  as  good  practice. 

A  few  days  later  General  Grant  came  to  the  Val- 
ley of  Virginia  to  confer  with  our  commander,  and 
just  before  his  arrival  a  spirited  affair,  in  which 
Mcintosh's  brigade  took  the  prominent  part,  stirred 

549 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

up  our  camp  and  sent  a  thrill  of  excitement  through- 
out the  army.  On  September  13  I  sent  Mcintosh 
toward  Winchester  for  the  purpose  of  developing 
exactly  the  enemy's  position.  The  two  armies  were 
separated  by  the  Opequan  and  its  tributaries.  The 
intervening  country  was  well  covered  with  timber 
and  the  accidents  of  the  ground  were  such  as  to 
make  concealed  and  secret  approaches  practicable. 
Bushing  rapidly  by  the  Winchester  Turnpike 
through  a  deep  gorge  crossing  the  Opequan,  Mc- 
intosh struck  the  enemy's  outpost  near  the  stream, 
and  so  great  was  his  impetus  and  so  unexpected  his 
coming  that  he  captured  two  officers  and  thirty-seven 
men.  Without  halting,  he  galloped  rapidly  through 
the  rising  ravine,  which  screened  him  on  both  sides, 
till  he  came  within  two  miles  and  a  half  of  Win- 
chester, where  he  struck  an  infantry  grand-guard 
so  posted  as  to  cover  the  approach  to  the  town.  His 
impulse  carried  him  through  the  enemy's  camp,  and 
gave  him  an  entire  regiment,  which  turned  out  to 
be  the  Eighth  South  Carolina  Infantry,  with  their 
colonel,  fifteen  other  commissioned  officers,  and  a 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  enlisted  men,  and  their 
battle  flags,  all  of  which  were  brought  to  camp  by 
the  middle  of  the  forenoon.1  The  affair  not  only  re- 
flected great  credit  upon  Mcintosh  but  gave  us  an 
exact  view  of  the  enemy's  position,  as  well  as  the 
ground  over  which  our  army  had  to  advance  in  or- 
der to  engage  him. 

I  met  General  Grant  on  September  17  at  Sheri- 
dan's headquarters,  and,  after  receiving  his  con- 
gratulation on  our  success,  told  him  that  so  far  as 

xO.  R.  Serial  No.  90,  Sheridan  to  Grant,  p.  24;  also  Mcintosh 
and  Wilson's  official  reports,  pp.  530,  531. 

550 


IN   THE   VALLEY   OF   VIRGINIA 

I  could  see  we  should  no  longer  delay  our  advance. 
With  the  same  advice  from  others  and  everything 
ready  he  ordered  Sheridan  to  "go  in.,,  Accord- 
ingly at  2  a.  m.  on  September  19  the  general  ad- 
vance was  begun  from  my  flank  of  the  army.  Mc- 
intosh, having  been  over  the  ground  so  recently, 
naturally  had  the  lead  and  before  daylight  was  again 
in  contact  with  the  enemy,  this  time  followed 
closely  by  the  entire  division,  which  debouched  upon 
the  plain  in  front  of  Winchester.  It  started  at  two 
o'clock  and  was  soon  in  contact  with  Bamseur's 
division,  occupying  the  same  position  it  held  when 
our  first  advance  was  made.  Without  waiting  for 
daylight,  I  put  Pierce's  battery  of  horse  artillery, 
supported  by  Chapman's  brigade,  in  a  position  to 
the  right  and  then  ordered  Mcintosh  with  his  en- 
tire force,  mounted  and  dismounted,  to  rush  the 
enemy's  works,  which  he  did  in  the  finest  possible 
manner,  breaking  through  and  driving  back  the 
enemy  all  along  the  line.  But  Eamseur,  a  classmate 
of  mine,  and  an  accomplished  soldier,  quickly  recov- 
ered from  his  surprise  and  in  turn  led  his  men 
against  us  with  firm  determination  to  regain  his 
lost  ground  and  entrenchments.  A  fierce  melee  of 
charge  and  countercharge  ensued,  in  which  both 
sides  put  forth  their  best  efforts.  Every  man  of 
the  division  became  sharply  engaged  and,  as  every 
man  seemed  to  know  the  importance  of  success,  but 
few  orders  were  necessary.  Both  brigade  com- 
manders fully  understood  that  we  had  to  hold  the 
captured  entrenchments,  and  must  continue  to  hold 
them  till  our  infantry  arrived,  and  hold  them  we  did. 
With  my  staff  and  escort  of  Indiana  troopers  we 
were  in  the  midst  of  it,  firing  and  slashing  right  and 

551 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

left  wherever  we  could  see  a  rebel  soldier.  I  dis- 
charged twelve  shots  from  my  revolvers  at  close 
range  and  then,  with  bugles  blowing,  drew  my  saber 
and  charged  with  the  men  as  best  I  could. 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement,  before  we  knew 
what  would  be  the  result,  a  little  waif  of  a  boy,  not 
yet  in  his  teens,  and  known  only  as  Jimmie,  rode 
up  to  me,  crying  as  though  his  heart  was  broken: 
"General,  give  me  a  squadron.  The  rebels  have 
captured  Billy  Brinton  [Lieutenant  Colonel  com- 
manding the  Eighteenth  Pennsylvania  Cavalry]  and 
I  want  to  charge  and  bring  him  out.,,  But  every- 
body was  engaged  and  there  was  no  squadron,  even 
for  this  little  paladin  to  lead.  Brinton  really  was 
a  prisoner,  but  that  night  he  rolled  under  a  hedge 
and  escaped,  rejoining  us  well  up  the  valley  the  next 
day.  Meanwhile,  we  finally  drove  Eamseur's  divi- 
sion from  its  rifle  pits  and  fence  rail  ' '  lay-out ' '  and 
made  good  our  possession.  This  was  the  most  im- 
portant performance  of  the  day's  operations,  for 
the  captured  ground  and  entrenchments  were  a  part 
of  the  field  which  we  held  till  the  following  infantry 
could  deploy  and  develop  a  proper  front  for  the  final 
advance  against  Early's  position  in  rear. 

In  the  midst  of  the  fighting  Colonel  Sandy  For- 
syth of  Sheridan's  staff  rushed  upon  the  field,  ex- 
claiming: "This  is  splendid;  you  have  got  a  bully 
fight  on  hand!"  Then,  waving  his  hat,  he  dashed 
into  the  thick  of  it,  but,  being  an  experienced  sol- 
dier, his  enthusiasm  soon  cooled  down,  and,  recog- 
nizing the  importance  of  making  good  our  position, 
he  swung  about  and,  galloping  to  the  rear,  called 
out  as  he  passed  me:  "What  you  need  here  is  in- 
fantry  and  I  am  going  to   hurry  it   forward  as 

552 


IN    THE    VALLEY    OF    VIRGINIA 

rapidly  as  possible."  With  this  he  disappeared,  but, 
withal,  it  was  eight  o'clock  before  the  Sixth  Corps 
arrived  on  the  position  we  had  captured. 

During  this  action  we  lost  quite  a  number,  killed 
and  wounded,  but  captured  something  like  a  hun- 
dred prisoners.  The  position  we  had  gained,  with- 
out the  prisoners,  was  worth  far  more  than  it  cost. 
It  commanded  an  extensive  plateau  overlooking  the 
Opequan  valley  behind  and  the  fields  in  front,  which, 
when  occupied  by  our  infantry,  made  it  easy  for 
Sheridan  to  deploy  his  entire  force  in  such  an  or- 
derly manner  as  to  give  battle  with  the  certainty 
of  success.1  The  rest  of  the  cavalry,  which  had  been 
watching  the  country  in  front  of  his  right  flank, 
now  pushed  its  way  across  the  valley  to  the  Win- 
chester and  Shepherdstown  turnpike,  where  it  finally 
took  up  an  important  part  in  the  operations  of  the 
day. 

Upton's  brigade  of  Russell's  division  was  the 
first  infantry  on  the  ground.  As  soon  as  it  made 
good  its  position  I  moved  well  round  toward  the 
Millwood  pike,  where  I  covered  the  left  and  front 
of  the  army,  and  held  my  troops  well  in  hand,  ready 
to  advance  at  the  word.  Upton  had  been  a  cadet 
with  me  for  four  years  and  was  my  intimate  friend. 
His  service  as  an  artillerist,  a  colonel  of  infantry, 
and  a  brigade  commander  had  been  second  to  none 
in  the  army.  He  was  justly  and  generally  even  then 
regarded  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  promising 
officers  of  his  age  in  the  army.  His  conduct  through- 
out the  day  was  most  conspicuous  and  exemplary, 
and  it  has  always  been  my  belief  that  to  his  action 

10.  R.  Serial  No.  90,  p.  47,  Sheridan's  Eeport;  also  Wilson's 
Report,  pp.  516  et  seq. 

553 


UNDER   THE    OLD   FLAG 

more  than  that  of  any  other  man  the  final  victory 
was  due.  He  was  the  one  infantryman  who  was 
ever  pushing  to  the  front  and  it  was  to  him,  after 
the  death  of  his  division  commander,  that  splendid 
soldier,  General  David  A.  Eussell,  that  the  enemy's 
position  and  its  weakness  became  fully  known.  Al- 
though badly  wounded  in  the  thigh  by  a  fragment 
of  shell,  which  laid  bare  the  femoral  artery,  he  de- 
clined to  leave  the  field,  although  Sheridan  in  per- 
son ordered  him  to  the  rear.  Instead  of  going,  he 
caused  his  surgeon  to  stop  the  bleeding  of  the  wound 
by  a  tourniquet,  and  then  threw  himself  upon  a 
stretcher  and  had  himself  carried  about  the  field 
till  the  battle  was  won  and  the  enemy  in  full  re- 
treat.1 This  was  the  most  heroic  action  that  came 
under  my  observation  during  the  war.  It  led,  a 
few  weeks  later,  to  my  request  that  Upton,  as  soon 
as  able  to  return  to  duty,  should  be  sent  west  to 
command  a  division  and  assist  me  in  reorganizing 
Sherman's  cavalry.  His  prompt  acceptance  and  the 
splendid  service  he  rendered  during  the  last  cam- 
paign led  to  a  still  closer  personal  and  official  in- 
timacy, which  lasted  to  the  date  of  his  melancholy 
death.  I  shall  have  many  occasions  before  closing 
this  narrative  to  refer  to  his  high  character  and 
gallant  behavior  while  under  my  command. 

Having  gone  to  Sheridan's  left  front  by  nine 
o'clock,  I  was  constantly  engaged  throughout  the 
day  in  making  reconnoissances  and  keeping  careful 
watch  over  that  part  of  the  field,  though  we  had 
but  little  actual  fighting  till  late  in  the  afternoon, 
when  we  came  in  contact  again  with  the  enemy's 

xO.  E.  Serial  No.  90,  Sheridan  to  Grant,  p.  26;  Sheridan's 
Official  Keport,  pp.  46,  47,  54. 

554 


IN    THE    VALLEY    OF   VIRGINIA 

extreme  right.  Finding  it  concealed  in  a  piece  of 
woods,  I  threw  Mcintosh's  brigade  forward  to  dis- 
lodge it.  With  his  accustomed  spirit,  he  led  his 
dismounted  skirmishers,  driving  the  enemy  back  and 
taking  possession  of  his  shelter,  but  in  the  midst 
of  success  his  leg  was  shattered  below  the  knee  by 
a  bullet,  which  compelled  him  to  leave  the  field.  Bid- 
ing by  me  to  the  rear  with  his  leg  dangling  and  his 
face  ashen  pale,  he  briefly  reported  what  had  hap- 
pened in  order  that  I  might  direct  the  next  in  com- 
mand to  take  his  place.  His  leg  was  amputated  that 
night.  Chapman's  brigade  strengthened  our  attack 
and  assisted  in  making  good  our  advantage.  In 
turn  Chapman  himself  was  knocked  from  his  saddle 
by  a  bullet  which  struck  his  belt  plate  and  put  him 
hors  de  combat  for  an  hour  or  two,  and  finally  sent 
him  on  leave  for  twenty  days,  during  which  he  won 
and  married  a  charming  wife.  Such  incidents  as 
this  make  the  soldier's  life  both  interesting  and  ro- 
mantic.1 

But  with  all  our  earlier  success  and  the  advan- 
tage it  gave  us,  the  battle  developed  slowly.  The 
enemy  held  every  foot  of  ground  as  though  he  were 
fighting  for  right  rather  than  for  victory.  For- 
tunately, my  position  gave  me  timely  notice  of  every 
favorable  indication,  so  that  when  the  enemy's  line 
broke  and  he  finally  gave  way  I  led  my  division 
across  country  to  the  Millwood  pike,  for  Kernstown 
and  the  Valley  turnpike,  with  the  view  of  intercept- 
ing his  retreat.  The  Second  New  York,  under  the 
gallant  Hull,  so  young  and  boyish  that  his  sprout- 
ing blond  mustache  could  hardly  be  seen,  followed 
closely  by  the  Third  New  Jersey  and  the  Eighteenth 

1 0.  R.  Serial  No.  90,  pp.  25-55,  Sheridan  '■  Report. 
555 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

Pennsylvania,  rushed  with  cheerful  alacrity  to  the 
work  before  them.  In  column  of  fours  the  exultant 
troopers  soon  found  themselves  at  the  edge  of  an 
old  field  opening  in  front  of  a  cavalry  brigade  oc- 
cupying the  other  side  in  full  line  of  battle.  Without 
a  moment 's  hesitation,  the  youthful  but  veteran  Hull 
called  out:  "Draw  sabers!  Front  into  platoon! 
Gallop,  charge  \"  And  as  they  emerged  from  the 
woods  and  took  the  new  formation  they  galloped 
straight  through  the  enemy,  scattering  them  in  all 
directions  like  leaves  before  the  wind.  It  was  as 
prompt  and  efficient  a  piece  of  cavalry  work  as  ever 
took  place,  and,  as  it  was  helped  on  by  Captain 
Boice  with  his  newly  organized  scouts,  which  struck 
the  enemy  at  the  same  time  on  his  right  and  rear, 
the  rout  was  complete.  It  overwhelmed  the  enemy 's 
last  brigade  and  opened  the  way  to  the  rear  of 
Early's  main  line.1  Hull  was  closely  followed  by 
the  other  regiments,  but,  as  their  route  lay  through 
forest  and  farms,  the  march,  especially  for  the  bat- 
teries, was  materially  delayed  by  the  ravines,  stone 
fences,  and  rough  country  of  that  region.  This  ex- 
plains why  my  division  did  not  strike  the  retreating 
rebel  army  full  in  flank  till  after  nightfall.  But, 
withal,  the  pursuit  continued  till  ten  o'clock,  our 
troopers  repeatedly  charging  the  enemy,  scattering 
his  detachments,  picking  up  prisoners,  and  capturing 
his  impedimenta.  Darkness  at  last  made  it  impos- 
sible to  distinguish  friend  from  foe.  More  than  one 
of  our  detachments  charged  another.  Much  con- 
fusion and  doubt  ensued  and  this  prevented  the  cap- 
ture of  as  many  prisoners  as  should  have  fallen  to 
our  lot.    As  it  was,  I  bivouacked  near  Kernstown, 

xO.  R.  Serial  No.  90,  Wilson's  Report,  p.  518  et  seq. 

556 


IN   THE   VALLEY    OF   VIRGINIA 

five  miles  south  of  Winchester,  at  ten  o'clock,  but 
it  was  not  till  toward  midnight  that  my  regiments 
were  all  in  hand  and  their  whereabouts  known. 

The  battle,  while  counted  a  brilliant  success,  hung 
in  the  balance  from  8  a.  m.,  when  the  Sixth  Corps 
began  to  arrive  on  the  field,  till  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon,  and  this  uncertainty  was  due  to  the  ir- 
resolute action  of  the  infantry  and  especially  of  the 
Nineteenth  Corps  under  Emory  and  the  so-called 
Army  of  West  Virginia  under  Crook.  For  reasons 
never  satisfactorily  explained,  those  organizations 
were  slow  to  reach  the  field  and  still  slower  to  de- 
velop line  and  attack  the  enemy.  Upton  always 
claimed  that  they  were  not  only  slow  and  timid,  but 
badly  handled  throughout  the  day. 

Sheridan  limits  his  fighting  force  in  that  battle 
to  twenty-six  thousand  men,  but  whether  this  is  an 
under-  or  over-estimate  is  not  important,  since  the 
rebel  figures  given  after  the  war,  while  habitually 
understated,1  still  leave  it  probable  that  Early  had 
not  over  half  as  many  in  the  battle  as  we  had.  But, 
whatever  may  have  been  our  preponderance  of  force, 
and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  considerable, 
both  in  the  battle  and  in  the  campaign  which  fol- 
lowed, Winchester  was  the  first  battle  of  the  war  in 
which  the  cavalry  was  properly  handled  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  infantry,  and  in  which  it  played  the 
decisive  part.  Without  reference  to  the  additional 
trophies  it  might  have  won  had  the  infantry  acted 
with  as  much  elan  and  decision  as  it  might  have 
acted,  it  seems  certain  that,  but  for  the  capture  of 
the  entrenchments  and  the  field  on  which  the  in- 

XC.  F.  Adam's  "Studies;  Military  and  Diplomatic, ' '  p.  282 
et  seq. 

557 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

fantry  formed  its  line  and  from  which  it  advanced, 
although  with  much  delay,  it  could  not  possibly  have 
won  the  signal  victory  of  that  memorable  day,  and 
there  are  many  who  believe  that  it  might  have  been 
driven  from  the  field  had  Early  at  any  time  after 
eight  o'clock  assumed  a  vigorous  offensive.  The 
simple  fact  is  that  the  infantry  was  slow,  and  that 
with  all  his  energy  and  dash  Sheridan  was  not  yet 
the  whirlwind  of  battle  he  afterward  became. 

It  is  equally  certain  that  the  victory,  although 
overwhelming,  did  not  give  us  as  many  prisoners 
or  as  many  spoils  of  war  as  it  should  have  done. 
Had  the  break  come  sooner  or  had  the  cavalry  been 
kept  united  and  thrown  earlier  in  the  day  against 
the  enemy's  line  of  retreat,  it  might  have  captured 
Early's  entire  force. 

As  soon  as  light  enough  to  see  the  next  morning, 
I  renewed  the  pursuit,  but  without  any  great  addi- 
tions to  our  captures.  Sheridan  had  ordered  my 
division  to  leave  the  main  valley  road  at  Middletown 
and  turn  toward  Front  Royal,  but  it  had  not  gone 
far  before  it  struck  Wickham's  cavalry,  which  it 
drove  rapidly  across  the  Shenandoah.  In  the  run- 
ning fight  my  inspector,  Captain  Russell  of  Maine, 
one  of  our  best  and  bravest  officers,  was  wounded 
in  the  knee  by  a  shot  so  small  that  none  of  us  thought 
it  serious,  but  his  leg  was  amputated  that  night, 
which  was  followed  by  death  in  less  than  forty-eight 
hours.  In  these  days  of  antiseptic  surgery  he  would 
have  lost  neither  his  leg  nor  his  life. 

At  daybreak  on  September  21  we  forced  our 
way  across  both  branches  of  the  Shenandoah  and 
attacked  the  rebels  at  Front  Royal,  but  the  morning 
was  so  foggy  that  the  men  in  the  fighting  line  could 

558 


IN   THE    VALLEY    OF   VIRGINIA 

not  see  thirty  yards.  As  the  lay  of  the  land  was 
unknown,  I  ordered  that  every  bugler  should  sound 
the  charge  and,  when  it  is  remembered  that  we  had 
two  buglers  at  our  headquarters,  two  at  each  bri- 
gade and  regimental  headquarters,  and  two  with 
each  battery  and  troop,  and  that  we  had  ten  regi- 
ments in  the  division,  it  will  be  seen  that  we  had 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  buglers  all  blowing  at 
the  same  time.  As  the  hills  reechoed  the  bugle  notes 
and  the  shouting  of  the  captains,  the  air  was  filled 
with  a  swelling  volume  of  sound,  which  might  well 
have  frightened  a  larger  force  than  the  one  before 
us.  Ten  thousand  men  could  not  have  made  a 
greater  noise  and  as  it  came  from  all  sides  the  enemy 
broke  and  ran  in  all  directions,  but  in  the  gray  of 
the  morning  and  the  dense  fog  but  few  prisoners 
were  taken.1  The  line  of  retreat  was  up  the  Luray 
Valley  through  Massanutten  Gap  to  Newmarket  and 
the  pursuit  was  renewed  as  soon  as  it  was  light 
enough  to  see  the  road.  Later  the  same  day  Tor- 
bert  with  his  division  overtook  us  and  held  command 
of  the  united  force  till  we  rejoined  the  army  on  Sep- 
tember 25. 

While  pressing  the  enemy  that  morning  my  ad- 
vance came  near  plunging  headlong  into  the  chasm 
of  Gooney  Eun,  where  the  enemy  had  paused  long 
enough  to  burn  the  bridge  at  the  foot  of  a  sharp 
down-grade.  The  rocky  chasm  thus  left  was  many 
feet  deep  and  impassable  for  any  creature  except 
mountain  goats.  As  it  extended  both  ways  for  a 
mile  or  so,  it  took  several  hours  to  find  a  way  of  get- 
ting our  guns  and  horses  across.  This  annoying 
circumstance  gave  the  enemy  ample  time  to  burn 

lO.  E.  Serial  No.  90,  p.  26,  Sheridan  to  Grant. 
559 


UNDER    THE    OLD    FLAG 

other  bridges  and  make  fence  rail  M layouts,' ' 
which  delayed  us  from  rejoining  Sheridan  in  the 
valley  beyond  till  after  the  battle  of  Fisher's 
Hill. 

The  day  after  that,  however,  we  were  further  re- 
enforced  by  Lowell's  brigade,  and  pushed  up  to 
Staunton,  arriving  there  at  7  p.  m.  on  the  27th.  The 
town,  with  a  large  number  of  convalescent  and 
wounded  men,  a  great  quantity  of  hard-bread,  to- 
bacco, military  equipments,  clothing,  and  camp 
equipage,  fell  into  our  hands.  After  taking  what 
we  needed  and  destroying  the  remainder,  we  pushed 
on  to  Waynesborough,  where  we  spent  several  hours 
burning  the  bridges  and  tearing  up  the  tracks  of 
the  Gordonsville  and  Staunton  Eailroad. 

We  left  Sheridan  resting  at  Harrisonburg.  With 
the  beautiful  country  and  the  fine,  bracing  weather, 
all  the  conditions  for  continuing  the  campaign  were 
unusually  favorable,  but  the  enemy,  by  burning  the 
bridges  behind  him,  had  made  it  impossible  to  over- 
take him.  With  but  one  turnpike  in  each  valley, 
the  minute  we  left  that  and  took  to  the  country  roads 
we  lost,  while  the  enemy  gained,  both  time  and  dis- 
tance. As  a  consequence  we  did  not  bring  him  to 
bay  again  till  he  got  beyond  the  Browntown  Gap, 
through  which  Torbert  concluded  it  was  not  prudent 
to  follow  him.  Sheridan  remained  far  behind, 
though  there  is  now  but  little  doubt  that  he  might 
have  continued  the  pursuit  till  he  had  driven  Early 
back  on  Lee,  instead  of  putting  that  off  till  six 
months  later. 

Perceiving  doubtless  that  our  infantry  was  not 
at  hand,  Early  turned  fiercely  upon  us  late  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  29th  between  Waynesborough  and 

560 


IN    THE    VALLEY    OF    VIRGINIA 

Browntown  Gap,  driving  in  our  pickets  and  pushing 
us  back  so  fiercely  that  we  at  once  concluded  his 
retreat  was  at  an  end,  or  that  he  had  received  re- 
enforcements  and  intended  to  drive  us  down  the 
valley  if  possible.  But,  while  this  was  dawning  on 
us,  Torbert,  instead  of  fighting,  gave  orders  to  re- 
tire, as  he  alleged,  in  compliance  with  orders  from 
Sheridan,  and  we  were  arranging  to  do  so  when 
the  enemy  appeared  in  full  force.  With  our  bat- 
teries in  position  we  opened  on  his  and  soon  became 
hotly  engaged.  Torbert  and  I  met  in  the  turnpike 
with  our  officers  and  escorts  and  were  consulting  as 
to  the  manner  of  withdrawing  when  it  became  ap- 
parent that  the  enemy  had  got  our  range  far  too 
closely  for  comfort.  I,  therefore,  suggested  that 
we  had  better  get  out  of  the  road  and  take  position 
in  the  open  field,  but  our  horses  had  hardly  moved, 
when  flash,  whiz,  bang!  came  two  shots,  raking  the 
turnpike  exactly  where  we  had  stood  facing  each 
other,  scattering  both  officers  and  men  and  maiming 
a  lot  of  horses,  but,  fortunately,  wounding  none  of 
us.  It  was  an  exciting  moment.  The  thought  of 
danger,  the  slight  movement  of  Torbert  and  myself, 
and  the  flash  of  the  rebel  battery  followed  each  other 
"in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye."  My  servants  were 
getting  supper  a  few  yards  away  when  a  shot  struck 
the  camp  fire,  scattering  pans  and  skillets  and  scar- 
ing the  servants  out  of  their  wits.  Gathering  them- 
selves hastily  together,  packing  up  their  effects,  and 
tossing  them  into  the  mess  wagon,  they  took  the 
road  to  the  rear  in  a  hurry  while  my  colored  boy, 
who  had  been  with  me  from  Vicksburg,  rode  up,  ex- 
claiming: "Gene'l,  there  ain't  going  to  be  no  sup- 
per, 'case  it's  all  broke  up  and  scattered,  an'  you'd 

561 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

better  light  out  and  take  care  of  yo'self,  for  if  you 
get  killed,  I  can't  stay  in  dis  wa'  nohow !" 

Meanwhile  Torbert  had,  as  usual,  given  me  the 
rear,  with  notice  that  the  other  troops  would  "get 
back"  as  rapidly  as  possible  and  leave  me  "a  clear 
road.''  In  retreat  this  is  about  the  best  thing  one 
cavalryman  can  do  for  another,  and  it  was  most  ac- 
ceptable at  this  juncture.  The  enemy's  guns  were 
now  pouring  roundshot  and  canister  from  the  hills 
beyond,  while  his  infantry  was  in  full  swing  toward 
us,  their  rifles  flashing  in  the  gathering  gloom  like 
an  innumerable  swarm  of  fireflies.  There  was  not 
a  minute  to  lose.  Hastily  sending  my  aids  to  the 
brigade  and  regimental  commanders  with  orders  to 
withdraw  from  the  outer  flanks  till  only  two  regi- 
ments were  left  in  line,  and  directing  headquarters 
to  take  the  road  without  delay,  I  held  on  till  the 
movement  was  well  under  way.  Night  was  now  on. 
My  officers  and  orderlies  were  all  guiding  troops 
to  the  rear,  but  it  was  now  so  dark  that  I  could  not 
see  whether  the  last  two  regiments  had  gone  or  were 
still  facing  the  enemy.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but 
go  in  person  to  find  out.  I,  therefore,  gave  my  horse 
the  spur  and  had  hardly  got  started  when  I  found 
myself  under  a  heavy  fire,  with  none  of  my  men  in 
sight.  I  turned  about  and  rode  to  the  rear  at  once. 
Not  a  soul  but  the  enemy  was  in  sight,  and  it  was 
then  so  dark  I  could  not  make  out  clearly  what  was 
going  on.  Hence  I  took  a  sharp  trot  down  "the 
middle  of  the  road,"  and  soon  found  myself  in  a 
deep  cut,  with  the  enemy  firing  sharply  at  me  from 
both  sides.  I  was  in  a  perilous  position,  expecting 
every  moment  to  be  killed,  but  the  sunken  road  saved 
me  by  causing  the  enemy's  shots  to  pass  over  my 

562 


IN   THE    VALLEY    OF   VIRGINIA 

head.  I  had  already  drawn  my  revolver  and  as  I 
caught  the  flash  of  the  nearest  rifle  I  fired  in  return, 
aiming  low  and  hoping  to  kill.  My  speed  was  fast, 
and  yet  I  had  time  before  getting  clear  of  the  enemy 
to  empty  both  pistols,  and  this  I  did  with  as  much 
deliberation  as  I  could  bring  to  the  task.  I  always 
regarded  this  as  the  narrowest  escape  of  my  life. 

I  had  hardly  replaced  my  pistol  and  dropped 
into  a  leisurely  pace  when  I  heard  spurs  jingling, 
sabers  rattling,  and  horses'  hoofs  clattering  on  the 
turnpike.  Fearing  that  the  enemy  had  passed  around 
and  would  finally  capture  me,  I  heard  with  bated 
breath  a  hail  out  of  the  darkness :  ' '  Halt !  who  comes 
there ?"  But,  as  described  elsewhere,  I  recognized 
the  familiar  voice  of  Captain  Hull,  who  was  coming 
with  a  squadron  of  the  Second  New  York  Cavalry 
to  rescue  me  if  possible.  While  the  recognition  was 
mutual,  I  have  always  regarded  this  incident  as  a 
great  tribute  to  the  character  and  devotion  of  that 
splendid  young  soldier. 

We  were  finally  clear  of  the  enemy,  but  contin- 
ued our  night  march  through  Staunton  to  Spring 
Hill,  where  we  halted  the  next  morning  at  daylight. 
After  resting  and  feeding  we  leisurely  resumed  the 
march  to  Harrisonburg,  where  the  campaign  ended 
for  the  present  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 
But,  fortunately  for  us,  Early  was  not  willing  to 
let  it  rest  at  that.  With  blundering  fatuity,  but  un- 
usual daring,  he  pushed  his  fortunes  to  a  fatal  dis- 
aster, for  he  was  overwhelmingly  defeated  a  few 
days  later  at  the  decisive  battle  at  Cedar  Creek. 

My  campaigning  in  the  East  had,  however,  ended 
at  Harrisonburg  on  September  30  by  an  order 
relieving  me  from  further  duty  with  Sheridan  and 

563 


UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

directing  me  to  proceed  without  delay  to  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  and  report  to  General  Sherman  for  the 
purpose  of  reorganizing  and  commanding  the  cav- 
alry of  his  military  division. 

I  had  led  the  Third  Cavalry  Division  constantly 
for  nearly  six  months.  It  was  first  to  cross  the 
Eapidan  and  first  to  engage  the  enemy  in  the  Wild- 
erness. It  was  the  only  division  to  occupy  Spott- 
sylvania  Court  House.  It  did  its  full  part  in  the 
battle  of  Yellow  Tavern,  where  Jeb  Stuart  was  de- 
feated and  killed.  It  marched  to  the  James  Eiver 
and  then  rejoined  the  army  with  the  cavalry  corps 
at  Chesterfield  Station,  where  it  made  a  successful 
turning  movement  against  Lee's  left  and  rear.  It 
took  part  in  all  Grant's  operations  till  he  confronted 
and  besieged  Lee  in  his  works  at  Petersburg.  From 
the  Chickahominy  to  Prince  George  Court  House, 
including  the  passage  of  the  James,  it  was  the  only 
cavalry  division  present  with  the  army.  From 
Prince  George  it  moved  by  the  way  of  Reams  Sta- 
tion against  the  Weldon,  the  Southside,  and  the  Dan- 
ville railroads,  destroying  them  so  completely  that 
they  were  out  of  service  for  nine  weeks.  With  only 
four  weeks'  rest  it  rejoined  Sheridan  in  the  valley, 
where  it  took  a  leading  part  in  the  battle  of  Kear- 
neyville,  Winchester,  and  Waynesborough.  During 
this  period  it  captured  many  prisoners  and  partici- 
pated in  twenty-six  fights  and  skirmishes.  It 
marched  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
from  the  1st  of  May  to  the  1st  of  September,  and 
did  its  full  share  of  the  cavalry  work  at  all  times 
and  in  all  places.1  And  yet  the  division  grew  stead- 
ily in  strength  and  efficiency.    With  only  three  thou- 

1  O.  E.  Serial  No.  90,  p.  520,  Wilson 's  Keport. 

564: 


IN    THE    VALLEY    OF   VIRGINIA 

sand  six  hundred  troopers  in  the  saddle,  we  crossed 
the  Rapidan  five  months  before,  and,  yet,  with  all 
our  losses,  the  division  numbered  about  five  thou- 
sand men  for  duty  when  I  left  it.  Every  man  was 
mounted  and  every  non-commissioned  officer  and  pri- 
vate was  armed  with  a  Spencer  carbine.  All  things 
considered,  it  had  become  as  good  a  division  of  cav- 
alry as  ever  upheld  the  Union  cause.  This  is  shown 
not  only  by  the  extraordinary  services  I  have  just 
outlined,  no  less  than  by  its  splendid  deeds  under 
Custer,  my  gallant  successor.  Its  two  best  regi- 
ments were  the  Fifth  New  York  and  the  First  Ver- 
mont from  the  opposite  sides  of  the  Champlain  Val- 
ley. They  were  almost  to  a  man  of  Anglo-American 
stock,  steady,  amenable  to  discipline,  natural  cav- 
alrymen, devoted  to  the  Union  and  without  hatred 
or  passion,  they  were  ever  ready  for  the  fray.  The 
division  contained,  besides  two  other  New  York  regi- 
ments, one  Connecticut,  one  New  Hampshire,  one 
Ohio,  and  one  Pennsylvania  regiment,  one  troop 
from  Indiana  and  two  regular  batteries  of  horse  ar- 
tillery, all  splendid  specimens  of  the  American  sol- 
dier and  a  complete  epitome  of  the  Northern  people. 
By  constant  work,  constant  instruction,  constant  at- 
tention to  the  details  of  discipline  and  equipment 
and  by  the  gradual  perfection  of  their  armament 
they  had  become,  without  bravado  or  bluster,  model 
American  cavalry,  fully  competent  to  grapple  with 
any  military  task  that  might  confront  them. 

On  the  day  I  left  I  was  aroused  before  sunrise 
by  the  reveille,  which,  as  custom  required,  started 
with  my  own  buglers  and  was  taken  up  in  turn  at 
brigade  and  regimental  headquarters,  and  then  by 
troop  and  battery,  till  mountain  and  valley,  forest 

565 


*  UNDER    THE    OLD   FLAG 

and  field,  reechoed  with  the  strains  of  martial  music. 
Nothing  conld  have  been  more  stirring  than  bugle 
answering  bugle  on  that  clear,  chilly  morning. 
Borne,  at  first  softly,  in  upon  the  awakening  sense, 
gradually  swelling  as  note  answered  note  and  finally 
dying  out  in  the  distance  with  a  delicious  and  linger- 
ing concord  of  sweet  sounds,  it  was  an  experience 
never  to  be  forgotten.  The  regret  which  I  naturally 
felt  at  parting  with  the  gallant  comrades  whom  I  had 
come  to  regard  as  brothers  in  the  great  cause,  filled 
my  heart  with  sympathy  and  affection  which  have 
lasted  to  this  day.  Perhaps  it  was  a  similar  feeling, 
mingled  with  grateful  ambition,  that  warmed  the 
heart  of  my  successor  and  inspired  his  tongue  with 
pleasant  words  and  generous  assurances,  ending  in 
an  offer  to  serve  with  me  in  the  West,  and  making 
us  better  friends  than  ever  before. 

After  turning  the  division  and  its  permanent 
staff  over  to  him,  with  the  brief  remark  that  he 
knew  it  as  well  as  I  did,  I  took  my  leave  and  started 
with  my  aids  and  an  escort  of  fifty  men  to  Martins- 
burg,  on  the  way  to  Washington,  for  the  purpose 
of  completing  my  arrangements  for  the  great  com- 
mand and  responsibilities  which  had  been  imposed 
upon  me  in  the  West.  While  Grant  authorized  Sher- 
idan to  send  either  Torbert  or  myself  to  reorganize 
and  command  Sherman's  cavalry,  both  Sheridan 
and  I  felt  that  the  great  task  was  really  intended 
for  me,  and,  as  Torbert  did  not  care  to  leave  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  the  detail  fell  to  my  lot. 


566 


INDEX 


Ames,  General  Adelbert,  447. 
Ammen,  Daniel,  U.  S.  N.,  96. 
Anderson,    General,   C.    S.   A., 

501. 
Anderson,  Major  Robert,  U.  S. 

A.,  60. 
Andrew,  Governor,  341. 
Andrews,  General  John  W.,  U. 

S.  V.,  57. 
Andrews,   John  N.,  U.   S.   A., 

18,  59,  399,  427,  462,  477 

et  seq.,  545  et  seq.;  joins 

staff,    426. 
Antietam  campaign,  100  et  seq., 

225. 
Army  of  Potomac,  401. 
Army  reorganization,  plan  of, 

229  et  seq. 
Asboth,  General,  251. 
Averell,  General,  540,  544. 


B 


Babcock,    Lieutenant    Colonel, 

283,  361,  378,  424. 
Badeau,    Adam,    81,    89,    191, 

192,  347,  361,  378. 
Baird,   General   Absalom,   298, 

302. 
Banks,  General  N.  P.,  238. 


Barlow,  General,  447. 

Barnes,  John  S.,  U.  S.  N.,  83, 

96. 
Battle  above  the  clouds,  293. 
Beard,  Lieutenant  Colonel,  81, 

85. 
Beaumont,  E.  B.,  399. 
Beauregard,  General  G.  T.,  60. 
Ben  Deford,  steamship,  loading, 

77  et  seq. 
Benham,  General,  87,  96. 
Benjamin,  Colonel,  433. 
Benton,  Major  James  G.,  16. 
Black  Hawk  War,  4. 
Blair,  Francis  P.,  63,  64. 
Blair,  Montgomery,  64. 
Blount,  Captain,  A.  D.  C,  543. 
Boice,  Captain,  53. 
Borland,  Harold,  cadet,  21. 
Bowen,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  220. 
Bowen,  Nicolas,  103, 106,  416. 
Bowers,  Theodore  F.,  136,  138, 

347,  348,  361,  389,  390  et 

seq. 
Bowman,  Charles  S.,  19. 
Bragg,  General  Braxton,  C.  S. 

A.,    at    Chattanooga,    284, 

292,    296;     retreats,    301, 

403. 
Brannan,  General  J.  M.,  298. 
Brinton,     Lieutenant     Colonel, 

552. 
Bruinsburg  Landing,  171. 


567 


INDEX 


Buckner,  General  Simon  B.,  C.      Congo  plantation,  170. 


S.  A.,  Ill,  403. 

Buell,  General  D.  C,  60, 150. 

Buford,  General  Napoleon  B., 
250. 

Burnside,  General  A.  E.,  104, 
106,  110  et  seq.,  357,  364, 
394,  432,  454;  at  Knox- 
ville,  281  et  seq.;  anxious 
to  cross  Holston,  283. 

Butler,  General  Benjamin  F., 
357,  360,  368,  415,  416, 
417,  423,  509,  510. 


Cady,  Surgeon,  255. 

Casey,  Samuel  K.,  7. 

Casey,  Thomas  L.,  U.  S.  En- 
gineers, 16. 

Cavalry  Bureau,  321  et  seq. 

Chance,  Orderly,  473. 

Chapman,  Colonel  George  H., 
381,  382,  384,  407,  408, 
430,  433,  442,  459,  464, 
466,  477,  513,  533,  551; 
promoted,  456 ;  wounded, 
555. 

Chattanooga  campaign,  263  et 
seq. 

Class  of  1855-1860,  9  et  seq. 

Cleburne,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
298. 

Clitz,  Henry  B.,  16. 

Cogswell,  Milton,  16. 

Colburn,  A.  D.  C,  122. 

Collins,  Napoleon,  96. 

Comstock,  Colonel  Cyrus  B., 
317,  418,  445. 


Conspiracy,  354  et  seq. 

Cosby,  George  B.,  C.  S.  A.,  16. 

Couch,  General,  109. 

Cracker  line,  279. 

Craig,  Captain  Thomas  E.,  Illi- 
nois Rangers,  3-4. 

Craighill,  William  P.,  16. 

Crawford,  General,  380. 

Crocker,  223,  322. 

Crook,  General  George,  49,  348, 
358,  557. 

Cullom,  Shelby  M.,  U.  S.  Sen- 
ate, 24,  25. 

Cullum,  General,  61. 

Cunningham,  John  M.,  7. 

Cunningham,  Mary  (Mrs.  John 
A.  Logan),  7. 

Cushing,  Samuel  T.,  19. 

Cushman,  Captain,  433. 

Custer,  George  A.,  101  et  seq., 
361,  364,  407,  413,  419, 
543,  544. 


D 


Dahlgren,  Admiral,  Ulric,  370. 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  161,  330, 
339,  342,  348,  416,  424, 
444,  445  et  seq.,  454,  455, 
471,  530,  536,  539;  "eyes 
of  the  government",  161, 
166;  letters  of,  to  Stan- 
ton, 177,  184,  188,  193, 
214,  265;  rides  to  Chatta- 
nooga, 268;  at  Knoxville 
with  Wilson,  281,  307;  re- 
turns to  Washington,  316, 
325 ;  recommends  Wilson 
for  Cavalry  Bureau,  326. 


568 


INDEX 


Davies,  Henry  E.,  361. 

Davis,    General    Jefferson    C, 

283. 
Davis,      Jefferson,      President 

Southern   Confederacy,   4, 

23. 
DeHart,  Henry  V.,  49. 
Delafield,  Colonel  R.,  16. 
Dennison,  Governor,  343. 
Dickey,  Colonel  T.  Lyle,  67. 
Dixon,  Joseph,  36. 
Douglas,    Stephen  A.,   23,  25, 

44. 
Drayton,    Percival,    U.    S.    N., 

96. 
Duane,    Major   James   C,   16, 

104. 
Duff,  Colonel  W.  L.,  317. 
Dunn,  William  M.,  A.  D.  C, 

318. 
DuPont,  Admiral,  70,  96. 


E 


Eagle  Valley  Retreat,  15. 
Early,  General,  485,  543,  558; 
menaces  Washington,  540. 
Edson,  Theodore,  17. 
Ekin,  Colonel,  339. 
Ellard,  Colonel,  329,  330. 
Emory,  General,  557. 


Featherstone,  General,  C.  S.  A., 

215. 
Ferrero,  General,  496. 
Finnegan,   General,   C.    S.   A., 

502. 


Fisher,  Colonel,  104. 
Fitzhugh,  Charles  L.,  381,  412, 

471. 
Floyd,  John  B.,  32. 
Floyd-Jones,   49. 
Foraker,  Senator,  34. 
Forrest,  N.  B.,  409. 
Forsyth,  James  W.,  387. 
Forsyth,  Sandy,  A.  D.  C,  552. 
Fort,  Lieutenant,  468. 
Foster,  Samuel  A.,  18. 
Franklin,  General,  William  B., 

100-109. 
Fries,  Andre,  librarian,  10. 
Fry,  James  B.,  16. 


G 


Garrard,  Kenner,  327. 

Gibbes,  Wade  H.,  20. 

Gibbon,  General  John,  16,  105, 
496,  501. 

Gillmore,  Quincy  A.,  70,  87, 
95,  96,  357,  360,  416. 

Goddard,  Captain,  A.  D.  C, 
412. 

Gogorza,  Anthoine  de,  33. 

Gordon,  382. 

Gordon,  General  John  B.,  386; 
anecdote  concerning,  525. 

Grand  Gulf,  170. 

Granger,  General  Gordon,  296; 
detached,  303;  slow  start- 
ing on  part  of,  304;  char- 
acter of,  306,  327. 

Grant,  Frederick  D.,  193. 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  33,  95,  100, 
137  et  seq.,  147  et  seq., 
225,    237;   456,   469,   471, 


569 


INDEX 


482,  485,  486,  491,  497, 
506,  526  et  seq.;  recom- 
mends consolidation  of  de- 
partments, 149,  155;  runs 
batteries  at  Vicksburg, 
166;  lost  on  river,  167; 
crosses  at  Bruinsburg,  171 
et  seq.;  at  Battle  of  Port 
Gibson,  declines  reconcil- 
iation with  McClernand, 
174  et  seq.,  193  et  seq.; 
occupies  Jackson,  202 ; 
concentrates  army,  204, 
206,  207;  closes  in  on 
Vicksburg,  208  et  seq., 
212;  relieves  McClernand, 
217;  visits  New  Orleans, 
239  et  seq.;  horse  falls, 
244;  is  ordered  to  Chat- 
tanooga and  meets  Stan- 
ton, 260;  Military  Di- 
vision of  the  Mississippi, 
and,  262;  arrives  at 
Bridgeport,  rides  to  Chat- 
tanooga and  meets  Thomas, 
268,  273;  sends  orders  to 
Burnside,  284  et  seq.; 
makes  plans  at  Missionary 
Ridge,  292,  299;  rides  to 
front,  300;  losses  of,  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  301 ;  fol- 
lows Sheridan,  302;  so- 
licitude of,  for  staff,  303; 
future  plans ,  of,  315 ;  at 
Nashville,  317;  "War  in 
this  country  now,"  319; 
headquarters  of,  at  Nash- 
ville, and  plans  for  future, 
321 ;  characteristics  and  es- 
timate of,  of  officers,  322, 

570 


326,  327,  341,  344;  promo- 
tion of,  346,347,348;  vis- 
its Washington,  349,  354, 
355 ;  overland  campaign 
of,  357,  358,  360,  361, 
362,  365,  366,  374,  375, 
376,  378  et  seq.,  384,  388; 
in  Wilderness,  389  et  seq., 
393,  394,  401, 402,  403, 405, 
415, 416, 417,419, 422, 423 ; 
advances  to  the  James, 
426,  440,  441;  dissipates 
cavalry,  442,  443;  respon- 
sible for  head-on  attack, 
444;  abandons  "Smash  'em 
up"  policy,  446  et  seq.; 
takes  warning,  448;  at 
Cold  Harbor,  450,  451; 
crosses  the  James,  453; 
telegraphs  Butler,  494 ; 
dissatisfied  with  Meade, 
530;  assumes  direct  com- 
mand, 531;  absorbs  all 
power,  532,  540;  in  Valley 
of  Virginia,  549  et  seq. 

Gregg,  David,  McM.,  364,  383, 
384,  395,  413,  440,  504  et 
seq.,  517. 

Griffith,  Sergeant,  179  et  seq. 

Grimshaw,  Dr.,  56. 


H 


Hains,  Peter  C,  U.  S.  En- 
gineers, 205. 

Hall,  Robert  H.,  18. 

Halleck,  General  Henry  W., 
98,  339,  359,  490. 

Halpine,  Charles  G.,  92. 


INDEX 


Hamilton,  John,  70,  87. 

Hammond,  Colonel  John,  380, 
382. 

Hampton,  General  Wade,  380, 
382,  408,  409,  430,  440, 
451,  458,  465,  469,  470, 
473  et  seq.,  482,  487  et  seq., 
492,  497,  501,  502  et  seq., 
507,  509,  516  et  seq.;  not 
idle,  493;  claims  success, 
517  et  seq. 

Hancock,  General,  403,  454, 
507. 

Hardee,  William  J.,  11, 12, 100. 

Hardie,  James  A.,  49,  60. 

Harris,  Ira,  Senator,  537. 

Harrison,  Elinor,  1. 

Harrison,  General  W.  H.  H.,  3. 

Harrison,  Mrs.  Burton,  526. 

Hartsuff,  General,  104. 

Hecker,  Colonel,  Illinois  Volun- 
teers, 312  et  seq. 

Hickenlooper,  Captain,  206. 

Hilton  Head,  72  et  seq. 

Hodges,  Henry  ft,  48,  49. 

Hodson,  of  Hodson's  horse,  52. 

Hoffman,  Ernest  F.,  Engineer, 
309;  romantic  career  of, 
310. 

Holabird,  -Samuel  B.,  16. 

Hooker,  Goneral  Joseph,  104, 
105,  116;  wants  Grant  to 
call,  264;  marches  through 
Lookout  Valley,  277;  Bat- 
tle of  Wauhatchee,  278; 
slow  at  Missionary  Ridge, 
296;  on  the  right,  301. 

Hopkins,  Edward  R.,  19,  116. 

Horse  contractors  arrested, 
330. 


Hovey,  Albin  P.,  344. 
Howard,    General    O.    O.,    16, 

264;  at  Missionary  Ridge, 

292. 
Huger,  Frank,  20. 
Hull,  Colonel,  555  et  seq.,  563. 
Humphreys,  General  A.  A.,  33, 

443,    458,    479,    482,    492, 

495,  498  et  seq.,  507. 
Hunter,  General  David,  87   et 

seq.,  91,  92,  95,  119,  440, 

483,    485,    491,   492,    526, 

533. 
Hurlbut,  General  Stephen  A., 

25,  252. 


Ingalls,  General  Rufus,  497; 
investigates  Sheridan,  515. 

Inspection  orders  and  instruc- 
tions, 245. 


Jackson,  William  H.  ("Red")., 
143. 

Jayne,  William,  26. 

Jimmy  ("The  Boy"),  552. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  332  et  seq. 

Johnston,  General  Albert  Sid- 
ney, C.  S.  A.,  41,  60. 

Johnston,  Joseph  E.,  C.  S.  A., 
4,  60,  199,  204,  403. 

Jones,  Mason  (colored),  170, 
561. 

Jones,  William  G.,  18. 

Jordan,  William  H.,  19. 


571 


INDEX 


Kautz,  Colonel  A.  V.,  339,  455, 
456,  461,  462,  463;  at 
Reams  Station,  466  et  seq., 
471,  509;  quits,  510;  a 
typical  infantryman,  511, 
519. 

Kearney,  General,  58. 

Kellogg,  Josiah  H.,  18. 

Kerr,  John  M.,  20,  102. 

Kidnapping  in  Illinois,  5. 

Kilpatrick,  General,  361,  368 
et  seq.,  409. 

Kingsbury,  Colonel,  110  et  seq. 

Kittoe,  Dr.,  210,  257,  317. 

Kossuth's  nephews,  252. 


Lewis,  Martin,  V.  B.,  19. 
Lincoln,   Abraham,    4,   23,   24, 

351,     353;     pathetic     dis- 
patch of,  485. 
Lockett,  Samuel  H.,  223. 
Logan,     Confederate     Colonel, 

248. 
Logan,   John  A.,   25,  46,  171, 

322. 
Logan,   Mrs.    John   A.    (Mary 

Cunningham),  7. 
Lomax,  L.  L.,  381. 
Long,  Lieutenant,  382. 
Longstreet,  General,  C.  S.  A., 

238,    327,    381,    393;    at 

Knoxville,  304. 
Lowell,    Colonel    Charles,   343, 

560. 
Lynn,  Daniel  D.,  19. 
Lyon,   General,  55. 


Lagow,  Clarke  B.,  138,  302. 

Lamon,  Ward,  350. 

Lamont,   Captain,  153. 

Latham,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  of  Mag- 
nolia Hall,  212. 

Lawler,  General  Michael  K., 
25,  177  et  seq.,  204. 

Lee,  Colonel  A.  L.,  Jayhawker, 
143. 

Lee,  Fitzhugh,  493,  501. 

Lee,  General  W.  H.  F.,  461, 
470,  501,  517. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  60,  64,  347,  357, 
358,  376,  393,  394,  403, 
405,  409,  415,  419,  420, 
422,  430,  432,  434,  435, 
437,  440,  442,  451,  485, 
493;  the  assailant,  386; 
correspondence  of,  523  et 
seq. 

572 


M 

McClellan,  General  George  B., 
60,  94,  100,  104  et  seq., 
107, 110  et  seq.,  118  et  seq., 
532. 

Mc  demand,  General  John 
A.,  25,  46,  119,  121  et 
seq.,  159,  174,  176,  178, 
181  et  seq.,  204,  205;  dis- 
patches of,  216;;  relieved, 
217. 

McCook,  Alexander  McD.,  16. 

McCreery,  W.  W.,  20. 

McDowell,  General  Irvin,  54, 
60,  65,  100. 

McFarland,  Walter,  21. 


INDEX 


Mcintosh,  Colonel,  380,  382, 
430,  459,  471,  513,  533, 
550,  551;  promoted,  456; 
wounded,  555. 

McKenzie,  Ranald  S.,  13,  447. 

McMahon,  Purser,  246,  247. 

McNutt,  Captain,  70. 

McPherson,  General  James  B., 
14,  19,  49  et  seq.,  54,  58, 
65,  132,  142,  146,  149,  181, 
188  et  seq.,  198  et  seq.,  236, 
322,  402. 

Macfeeley,  Robert,  140. 

Mahone,  General,  C.  S.  A., 
470,  502,  509. 

Mansfield,  General,  115. 

Marsh,  Salem  S.,  18. 

Marshall,  Samuel  S.,  7. 

Martin,  James  P.,  17,  18,  126, 
328,  339,  427. 

Maynard,  Hon.  Horace,  286. 

Meade,  General  George  G.,  58, 
115,  357,  360,  365,  378, 
388,  395,  396,  435,  437, 
441,  443,  454,  468,  482, 
485,  486,  490,  491,  493, 
494,  495,  497,  498,  504  et 
seq.,  506,  510;  impatient 
with  Sheridan,  514,  529  et 
seq.;  failure  of,  described, 
531. 

Meigs,  General,  Q.  M.,  293. 

Merritt,  Wesley,  11,  18,  361, 
364,  413,  508,  540,  543. 

Michler,  Nathaniel,  48. 

Milliken's  Bend,  155. 

Mishler,  Lyman,  19. 

Missionary  Ridge,  289  et  seq.; 
mistaken  claims  at,  300; 
losses  at,  301. 


Mizner,  Colonel  J.  K.,  143. 
Morgan,  Michael  R.,  97,  416. 
Morton,   Colonel  A.   St.   Clair, 

265. 
Morton,  Governor  O.  P.,  343. 
Mosby,   Colonel   John    S.,   548 

et  seq. 
Mudd's  Cavalry,  172. 
Munday,  Mark,  Pilot,  153. 

N 

New  Harmony,  6. 
Nicolay  and  Hay,  23,  64. 
Noyes,  Henry  E.,  399. 


Officers,  meeting  of,  at  Chat- 
tanooga, 280. 

Oglesby,  Richard  J.,  25. 

Ord,  General  E.  O.,  358. 

Orchard  Knoll  headquarters, 
297. 

O'Rorke,  Patrick  H.,  70. 

Osterhaus,  General,  175. 

Overland  campaign,  402  et  seq. 


Palmer,  General  John  M.,  25. 

Panama  Canal,  33. 

Parke,  General  John  G.,  283, 

327. 
Parker,  Indian  Chief,  400,  452. 
Pelouze,  Louis  H.,  70,  77,  85. 
Pemberton,    General   John    S., 

C.  S.  A.,   177,  199,   403; 

surrender    of,     at    Vicks- 

burg,  221  et  seq. 


573 


INDEX 


Pennington,  Alexander  C.  M., 

18,  381,  412. 
Perry,  Alexander  J.,  16. 
Perry,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  502. 
Pierce,  Captain,  551. 
Pleasanton,  General,  104,  362, 

363. 
Po'  whites,   287. 
Politics  at  West  Point,  22  et 

seq. 
Pool,   Orval,  7. 
Pope,  John,  100,  163,  166,  167 

et  seq.,  170,  196. 
Port  Royal,  69,  70,  225. 
Porter,  Admiral,  159,  166,  196. 
Porter,  General  Fitz  John,  100, 

109. 
Porter,  Horace,  68,  70,  89  et 

seq.,   270,   361,   378,   391; 

falls   sick,   75,   85;   meets 

Grant,  268. 
Powell,  Albert  M.,  19. 
Preston,  Colonel,  407,  433. 
Price,  General  Sterling,  C.  S. 

A.,   524. 
Pulaski,  Fort,  74,  88. 


Vicksburg,  239  et  seq.,  epi- 
sode of  Grant  and,  249; 
letters  of,  254,  255;  in 
love,  256;  at  Orchard 
Knoll,  297;  marries,  317; 
relations  of,  with  Grant, 
323  et  seq.;  statement  of, 
390  et  seq. 

Rawlins  family,  6. 

Reno,  General,  104. 

Riggin,  John,  A.  D.  C,  138. 

Riley,  Edward  B.  D.,  20. 

Riley,  General  Bennett  H.,  20. 

Rodgers,  Captain  John,  83,  84. 

Rodgers,  Raymond,  96. 

Rogniat's  line,  224. 

Rosecrans,  General,  60;  leaves 
Chattanooga,  265. 

Rosser,  General,  C.  SrA.,  380, 
382,  383. 

Rowley,  Colonel,  A.  D.  C,  138. 

Russell,  Captain,  Ordnance, 
mortally  wounded,  558. 

Russell,  General  David  A.,  553 
et  seq. 


R 


Ramseur,  Stephen  D.,  19,  551. 

Randol,  Alanson  M.,  18. 

Rawlins,  John  A.,  133  et  seq., 
156  et  seq.,  190,  195,  196, 
345,  346,  348,  349,  361, 
365,  378,  389,  401,  416, 
418,  423,  424,  444,  445  et 
seq.,  454,  455,  530;  letter 
of,  to  Grant,  210  et  seq.; 
guardian     of     ladies     at 


St.  John,  General  J.  M.,  462. 
Sanders,  General,  C.  S.  A.,  502. 
Saunders,  John   S.,  223. 
Saxton,  Rufus,  70,  76. 
Sayles,  Captain,  killed,  462. 
Schneyder,  Augustus,  5. 
Schneyder,  Katharine,  5,  40. 
Schurz,  Charles,  312. 
Scott,  General  Winfield,  4,  59 
et  seq.,  65. 


574 


INDEX 


Seddon,  Confederate  Secretary 
of  War,  523  et  seq. 

Sedgwick,  General  John,  386, 
396;  killed,  415. 

Sharpe,  Colonel,  506. 

Shawneetown,  2-6. 

Sherman,  General  T.  W.,  67, 
71. 

Sheridan,  Philip  H.,  18,  361, 
362,  363,  364,  365,  374, 
383,  385,  387,  388,  395, 
396,  405,  408,  409,  412, 
416,  417,  418,  419,  424, 
431,  432,  439,  440,  455, 
458,  465,  469  et  seq.,  482, 
483  et  seq.,  485,  487  et 
seq.,  491,  492  et  seq., 
493,  494  et  seq.,  495, 
538,  544,  554,  558,  560;  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  298 ; 
gains  Grant's  favor,  307; 
bridges  Chickahominy,  413, 
414;  at  Haxall's  Landing, 
415;  operating  in  new 
field,  420;  rejoins  army, 
421;  at  Trevillian,  441, 
451;  at  White  House,  457; 
disregards  Meade's  orders, 
486;  slow,  497,  498  et  seq.; 
still  absent,  502  et  seq.,  504 
et  seq.;  reaches  Reams 
Station,  507;  best  with 
mixed  commands,  511  et 
seq.;  special  and  particu- 
lar duty  of,  518;  admis- 
sions of,  520;  absence  of, 
521,  526  et  seq.,  529;  fail- 
ure of,  531;  commands 
new  department,  533 ; 
fighting  force  of,  557. 


Sherman,  General  W.  T.,  60, 
158,  181,  197,  204,  225, 
264,  323,  344,  347,  402; 
operates  eastward,  234 
•  et  seq.;  at  Chattanooga, 
290;  slow  in  marching, 
291;  at  Missionary  Ridge 
and  crossing  Tennessee, 
294;  halts  to  fortify,  295; 
claims  of,  299;  fails,  301; 
march  to  Knoxville,  307; 
reaches  Knoxville  and 
countermarches,  315. 

Shunk,  Francis  J.,  70. 

Siebert,  Captain  A.  A.  G.,  399, 
549. 

Sill,  Joshua,  16. 

Silvey,  William,  16. 

Sixteenth  Army  Corps,  252. 

Sloan,  Ben,  19. 

Slocum,  General,  264. 

Smalley,  George  W,  116. 

Smith,  Alfred  T.,  18. 

Smith,  General  C.  F.,  322. 

Smith,  John  E.,  223,  322. 

Smith,  Morgan  L.,  223,  322. 

Smith,  General  William  Farrar 
("Baldy"),  16,  109,  265, 
325,  357,  360,  361,  363,  368, 
403,416,418,448;  at  Chat- 
tanooga, 271;  at  Brown's 
Ferry,  291;  at  Petersburg, 
450,  453 ;  failure  at  Peters- 
burg, 454. 

Snuff  dipping  scene,  308. 

Spaulding,  Colonel  George, 
335. 

Spears,  Brigadier  General,  282. 

Spottsylvania  Court  House 
393,  394,  395. 


575 


INDEX 


Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  121,  327, 
338,  341,  354,  366,  537; 
irascible  temper  of,  538 
et  seq. 

States  Rights,  26,  27. 

Stevens,  General  Isaac  I.,  70, 
91  et  seq. 

Stone,  General  Charles  P.,  239. 

Stoneman,  General  George,  327, 
362,  363. 

Stoughton,  Edwin  H.,  348. 

Stuart,  General  J.  E.  B.,  363, 
381,  393,  395,  405 ;  wound- 
ed, 408;  died  of  wounds, 
416. 

Sumner,  General  Edwin  V.,  39, 
47,  109,  112  et  seq.,  160. 

Sweet,  John  Jay,  12,  18. 


Torbert,  General  A.  T.  A.,  363, 
364,  395,  439,  440,  488  et 
seq.,  533,  534  et  seq.,  540 
et  seq.,  543,  544,  559,  560 
et  seq.,  566. 

Turner,  General  John  W.,  97, 
368. 

Tybee,  86. 

Tyler,  John,  house  of,  417,  418, 
524. 


U 


Ulffers,  Captain  von  Nostitz, 
201,  435  ef  seq. 

Upton,  General  Emory,  20, 181, 
370,  403,  147  et  seq.;  at 
Winchester,  553,  554,  556. 


Talcott,  Colonel,  33. 

Tardy,  John  A.,  19,  68,  70. 

Tatnall,  Commodore,  85. 

Taylor,  General  Z.,  4. 

Tennessee,  Department  and 
Army  of,  146. 

Third  Cavalry  Division,  361  et 
seq. 

Thorn,  George,  35. 

Thomas,  General  George  H., 
65,  150;  at  Chattanooga, 
272,  275;  unbends,  280;  at 
Orchard  Knoll  and  Mis- 
sionary Ridge,  297,  298, 
402. 

Thomas,  Lorenzo  A.  G.,  148, 
165,  190,  256. 

576 


Valley  of  Virginia,  547  et  seq. 

Vancouver,  Fort,  37,  38. 

Vanderbilt,  George  W.,  19. 

VanDorn,  General  Earl,  20, 
143. 

Vicksburg,  campaign  of,  154  et 
seq.;  plans  for  capture  of, 
156  et  seq.;  running  the 
batteries  at,  158  et  seq. 

Viele,  General  Egbert  L.,  70, 
81,  96. 

Vilarceau,  Count  de,  103. 


W 

Wabash,  frigate,  71. 
"Waif,"  the,  318,  384. 


INDEX 


Walker,  General  W.  H.  T.,  16. 

Wallace,  General  Lew,  138. 

War  College,  17. 

Warner,  James  M.,  18. 

Warren,  General  G.  K.,  395, 
401,  455;  refuses  to  co- 
operate, 396  et  seq. 

Washington,  Thornton  A.,  16. 

Washburne,  E.  B.,  345,  348. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  128. 

Weitzel,  Godfrey,  16. 

West  Point,  7  et  seq.,  29  et 
seq. 

Whitaker,  Captain  E.  W.,  411, 
458,  468,  500,  501,  503, 
507. 

Whittemore,  James  M.,  18. 

Wickham,  General,  393,  558. 

Wildrick,  Abram  K.,  35. 

Williams,  General,  154. 

Wilson,  Alexander,  547;  in  Il- 
linois legislature,  1,  3. 

Wilson,  Bluford,  40  et  seq.,  177 
et  seq. 

Wilson,  Harrison,  348;  ensign, 
captain,  etc.,  1  et  seq. 

Wilson,  Henry  S.,  40,  130,  131. 

Wilson,  Isaac,  sergeant  in  Vir- 
ginia line,  1,  2. 

Wilson,  James  H.,  born,  6 ;  en- 
ters college,  7;  at  West 
Point,  8;  appointed  corpo- 
ral, 10 ;  classmates  of,  17  et 
seq.;  loyalty  of,  26  et  seq.; 
graduation  and  assign- 
ment of,  31;  at  Panama, 
California  and  Washing- 
ton Territory,  32;  at  Fort 
Vancouver,  35;  at  Puget 
Sound,  37;  a  loyal  corre- 


spondent, 41  et  seq.;  or- 
dered east,  47;  ship- 
wrecked, 48  et  seq.;  sails 
from  San  Francisco,  49  et 
seq.;  interview  with  Gen- 
eral Scott,  60  et  seq.;  seeks 
service  in  War  for  Union, 
57  et  seq.;  ordered  to  Bos- 
ton, 67;  reports  to  T.  W. 
Sherman,  67;  at  Port 
Royal,  70  et  seq.;  acting 
ordnance  officer,  75;  loads 
steamship,  76  et  seq.; 
thrown  into  bay,  examin- 
ing volunteers,  78;  recon- 
noiters,  79;  at  Venus 
Point,  84;  at  Tybee,  85; 
first  infantry  fight  of,  86; 
at  Fort  Pulaski,  87;  at 
Secessionville,  92;  in  war 
balloons,  93;  judge  advo- 
cate, 93;  acting  assistant 
inspector  general,  94 ; 
army  and  navy  friends  of, 
95  et  seq.;  ordered  to 
Washington,  98;  on  Mc- 
Clelland staff,  100  et  seq.; 
at  the  Battle  of  Antietam, 
108  et  seq.;  in  Washing- 
ton, 119;  conversation  of, 
with  McClernand,  120;  at 
Pleasant  Valley,  interview 
with  McClellan,  122  et 
seq.;  on  Grant's  staff,  131 
et  seq.;  meets  Rawlins, 
132;  conversations  of,  135 
et  seq.;  meets  Grant,  138; 
joins  McPherson,  141;  in- 
spector general  Tenth 
Corps,    142;    tells    Grant 


577 


INDEX 


Government's    plan,    144 ; 
inspector        general        of 
Grant's   army,   147;   down 
the    Mississippi,    148;    at 
Yazoo  Pass,  151;  suggests 
plan    of    operations,    156 
et    seq.;    counsels    Grant 
against  canals,  164;  takes 
Grant    to    Porter's    fleet, 
166 ;     constructs     bridges, 
169;  at  Bruinsburg  Cross- 
ing, 170;  at  the  Battle  of 
Port  Gibson,  174;  fails  to 
reconcile   Grant  with  Mc- 
Clernand,  176;  carries  or- 
ders to  McClernand,  182; 
relieves  McClernand,  185; 
supervises  bridge  building, 
188 ;    recommends   Badeau 
for  private  secretary,  191; 
horsemanship  of,  194;  re- 
pairs Bayou  Pierre  bridge, 
195;  on  Porter's  flagship, 
196 ;  at  Hankinson's  Ferry, 
197;  orders  to  McPherson, 
198;  advises  movement  to 
Jackson,  200;  incidents  at 
Jackson,    202    et   seq.;   at 
Champion's   Hill,   204;   at 
Big  Black  Bridge,  206;  at 
the    siege    of    Vicksburg, 
208    et    seq.;    rides    with 
Grant   to   Magnolia  Hall, 
211;      at      the     corduroy 
bridge,  214 ;  carries  Grant's 
reply  to  Pemberton,  221; 
rides  rebel  entrenchments, 
222;   comments   of,   there- 
on,    224;     necessity     for 
army  reorganization,  real- 

578 


ized  by,  and  plans  therefor, 
227  et  seq.;  predicts  failure 
of     Sherman's     campaign 
east       from       Vicksburg, 
234 ;    opposes    detachment 
of     Thirteenth     Corps, 
238;   takes   sick   prisoners 
to  Monroe,   245;   personal 
inspections  by,  245;  leaves 
Vicksburg   on    tour,    249; 
visits  home  for  first  time 
since  war  began,  249;  in- 
spection by,  at  Cairo,  250; 
at  Memphis  and  west  Ten- 
nessee, 254;  return  of,  to 
Vicksburg,  256;  reports  to 
Grant,    257;    carries    dis- 
patches  to   Cairo,   259    et 
seq.;    accompanies    Grant, 
260 ;      recommended      for 
colonel    of    engineer   regi- 
ment, 265 ;  introduces  Por- 
ter to  Grant,  266 ;  promot- 
ed   to    brigadier    general, 
267;  rides  to  Chattanooga 
with    Dana,     268;     meets 
General      Thomas,      272; 
friendly  relations  of,  276; 
engaged    in    the    situation 
at      Chattanooga,      guides 
Hooker    through    Lookout 
Valley,  277;  receives  news 
of  promotion  to  brigadier 
general,      280;      goes     to 
Knoxville   to   confer   with 
Burnside,    281-283;    gives 
Grant's    orders    to    Burn- 
side,  284;  returns  to  Chat- 
tanooga,     285 ;      receives 
commission  brigadier  gen- 


INDEX 


eral,  289;  assists  Sherman 
and  rejoins  Grant,  297; 
accompanies  Grant  in  pur- 
suit, 300;  finds  Thomas, 
302;  chief  engineer  of 
Sherman's  march  to  Knox- 
ville,  307 ;  bridging  the  Hi- 
wassee,  309;  on  the  Little 
Tennessee,  313  et  seq.;  re- 
turns to  Chattanooga,  317; 
accompanies  Grant  via 
Cumberland  Gap  to  Nash- 
ville, 318 ;  chief  of  Cavalry 
Bureau,  325  et  seq.;  calls 
on  Stanton,  327;  speech 
of,  to  horse  contractors, 
329;  favors  the  Spencer 
carbine,  331,  374;  spends 
ten  weeks  in  Washington, 
332;  interview  of,  with 
Andrew  Johnson,  333;  re- 
lieved of  Cavalry  Bureau, 
339;  habits  of  work  of, 
342,  343;  inspects  horse 
markets,  343  et  seq.;  meets 
Lincoln,  348;  attends  thea- 
ter with  President,  349;  at 
reception,  351 ;  at  ball,  352 
et  seq.,  359  et  seq.;  But- 
ler asks  for,  359;  reports 
to  Meade,  360;  assigned  to 
Third  Cavalry  Division, 
362,  364,  366;  takes  com- 
mand, 367;  methods  of 
discipline  and  drill  of, 
375;  in  the  Wilderness, 
379;  first  cavalry  engage- 
ment of,  381  et  seq.;  with 
Forsyth,  387;  Grant  com- 
pliments,   389 ;    conversa- 

579 


tion  of,  with  Rawlins  and 
Bowers,  390;  interview  of, 
with  Grant,  391;  occu- 
pies Spottsylvania  Court 
House,  393 ;  laying  of  pon- 
toon bridge,  398 ;  interview 
of,  with  Grant,  400;  in  the 
Richmond  raid,  406;  at 
Yellow  Tavern,  407;  night 
march  of,  410;  night  fight 
of,  411  et  seq.;  writes 
Dana,  415;  visits  Grant's 
headquarters,  423 ;  meets 
friends,  424;  covers  rear, 
420;  at  Hanover  Court 
House,  429  et  seq.;  in  re- 
serve, turns  Lee's  left,  432, 
434;  tests  rations,  438;  on 
the  right,  440;  conversa- 
tion of,  with  Meade,  443; 
at  St.  Mary's  Church,  452, 
455;  detached  against  rail- 
roads, 457;  gets  back,  464 
et  seq.;  at  Reams  Station, 
468;  withdraws,  472  et 
seq.;  bridges  the  Black- 
water,  474  et  seq.;  in  Chip- 
oak  Swamp,  478  et  seq.; 
losses  of,  480  et  seq.;  ref- 
erences to,  in  correspon- 
dence, 491,  492,  494  et 
seq.,  504,  506,  508  et  seq.; 
Richmond  Examiner  and, 
522;  thoroughness  of  work 
of,  524;  last  blow  of,  526; 
refitting  on  the  James, 
528 ;  Richmond  newspa- 
pers and,  529 ;  joins  Sheri- 
dan in  the  Valley,  533; 
rule  of  action  of,  535;  re- 


INDEX 


fits  at  Giesboro  and 
marches  through  Washing- 
ton, 536  et  seq.;  interview 
of,  with  Stanton,  537  et 
seq.;  covers  rear,  539 ;  first 
action  of,  with  Spencer 
carbines,  541  et  seq.;  cov- 
ers rear,  542;  night  march 
of,  to  Sharpsburg,  544; 
horse  swapping  and,  546; 
"To  Arms!",  549;  meets 
Grant,  550;  at  Battle  of 
Winchester,  551  et  seq.; 
covers  rear,  562;  ordered 
to  Sherman,  563 ;  summary 
of  service  of,  with  Third 
Cavalry  Division,  564  et 
seq. 
Wilson,  John  A.,  5. 


Wilson,  John  M.,  18,  102,  103. 

Wilson  family,  1  et  seq. 

Wood,  General  T.  J.,  at  Mis- 
sionary Ridge,  298. 

Wright,  George,  35,  39,  60. 

Wright,  H.  G.,  70,  71,  92,  496, 
501,  505  et  seq.,  507  et  seq. 


Yard,    Lieutenant,    A.    D.    C, 

398. 
Yates,  Governor  of  Illinois,  175. 
Yazoo  Pass  expedition,  151  et 

seq. 
Yellow  Tavern,  407. 
"Young  Napoleon,  The,"  107. 
Young,  Pierce,  M.  B.,  430. 


580 


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